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PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


BY 


jVIPs.   Aie:!i;andei:'   Proudfit. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


HISTORY 


CHEISTIAI^  CHUKCH. 


PHILIP  SCHAFF,  D.D., 

AFTHOE    OP    THE    HI8T0ET    OF    THE    APOSTOLIC    OHUECn. 


FKOM  THE  BIRTH  OF  CHRIST  TO  THE  REIGN  OF  CONSTANTIIfE, 

A.  D.  1—311. 


LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 


nui 


r\no 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


NEW    YOEK: 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER,   124  GRAND  STREET. 

EDINBURGH: 

T.  &  T.  CLARK,  38  GEORGE  STREET. 

MDCCCLIX. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1868, 

By  CHAELES  SCRIBNEK, 

In  the  Clerk's  OflSce  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York. 


B.   OBAIOBEAD, 

Printer,  Siereotyper,  ami  Klectiocypw 

Carton  lUiiIliing, 

81,  S3,  and  iS  Centre  Utrcct. 


PREFACE 


Encouraged  by  the  favorable  reception  of  my  History  of  the  Apostolic 
Church,  I  now  offer  to  the  pubUc  a  History  of  the  Primitive  Church  from  the 
birth  of  Christ  to  the  reign  of  Constantine,  as  an  independent  and  complete 
■work  in  itself,  and  at  the  same  time  as  the  first  volume  of  a  general  history 
of  Christianity,  which  I  promised  several  years  ago,  and  which  I  hope,  with 
the  help  of  Grod,  to  bring  down  to  the  present  age. 

The  church  of  the  first  three  centuries,  or  the  ante-Nicene  age,  possesses  a 
pecuHar  interest  for  Christians  of  all  denominations,  and  has  often  been 
separately  treated,  by  Eusebius,  Mosheim,  MUman,  Kaye,  Baur,  Hagenbach, 
and  other  distinguished  historians.  It  is  the  daughter  of  Apostolic  Chris- 
tianity, which  itself  constitutes  the  first  and  by  far  the  most  important  chapter 
in  its  history,  and  the  common  mother  of  CathoHcism  and  Protestantism,  though  <^ 
materially  difiering  from  both.  It  presents  a  state  of  primitive  simphcity 
and  purity  unsullied  by  contact  with  the  secular  power,  but  with  this  also, 
the  fiindamental  forms  of  heresy  and  corruption,  which  reappear  from  time 
to  time  under  new  names  and  aspects,  but  must  serve,  in  the  overruling 
providence  of  God,  to  promote  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness.  It  is  the 
heroic  age  of  the  church,  and  unfolds  before  us  the  sublime  spectacle  of  our 
holy  rehgion  in  intellectual  and  moral  conflict  with  the  combined  supersti- 
tion, policy,  and  wisdom  of  ancient  Judaism  and  Paganism ;  yet  growing  in 
persecution,  conquering  in  death,  and  amidst  the  severest  trials  giving  birth 
to  principles  and  institutions  which,  in  more  matured  form,  still  control 
the  greater  part  of  Christendom. 

Without  the  least  disposition  to  detract  from  the  merits  of  my  numerous 
predecessors,  to  several  of  whom  I  feel  deeply  indebted,  I  have  reason  to 
hope,  that  this  new  attempt  at  a  historical  reproduction  of  ancient  Christianity 
wUl  meet  a  want  in  our  theological  literature  and  commend  itself,  both  by  its 


VI  PREFACE. 

spirit  and  method,  and  by  presenting  with  the  author's  own  labors  the  results 
of  the  latest  German  and  English  research,  to  the  respectful  attention  of  the 
American  student.  Having  no  sectarian  ends  to  serve,  I  have  confined 
^  myself  to  the  duty  of  a  witness — to  tell  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and 
nothing  but  the  truth;  always  remembering,  however,  that  history  has  a  soul 
as  well  as  a  body,  and  that  the  ruling  ideas  and  general  principles  must  be 
represented  no  less  than  the  outward  facts  and  dates.  A  church  history 
without  the  life  of  Christ  glovring  through  its  pages  could  give  us  at  best  only 
the  picture  of  a  temple  stately  and  imposing  from  without,  but  vacant  and 
dreary  within,  a  mummy  in  praying  posture  perhaps  and  covered  with 
trophies,  but  withered  and  unclean :  such  a  history  is  not  worth  the  trouble  of 
writing  or  reading.  Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead ;  we  prefer  to  live  among 
the  Uving,  and  to  record  the  immortal  thoughts  and  deeds  of  Christ  in  and 
through  his  people,  rather  than  dwell  upon  the  outer  hulls,  the  trifling  acci- 
dents and  temporary  scaffolding  of  liistory,  or  give  too  much  prominence 
to  Satan  and  his  infernal  tribe,  whose  works  Christ  came  to  destroy. 

The  account  of  the  apostohc  period,  which  forms  the  divine-human  basis 
of  the  whole  structure  of  history,  or  the  ever  living  fountain  of  the  unbroken 
stream  of  the  church,  is  here  necessarily  short  and  not  intended  to  supersede 
my  larger  work,  although  it  presents  more  than  a  mere  summary  of  it,  and 
"^  views  the  subject  in  part  under  new  aspects.  For  the  history  of  the  second 
period,  which  constitutes  the  body  of  this  volume,  large  use  has  been  made  of 
the  new  sources  of  information  recently  brought  to  hght,  such  as  the  Syriac  and 
Armenian  Ignatius,  and  especially  the  Philosophoumena  of  Hippolytus.  The 
bold  and  searching  criticism  of  modern  German  historians  as  apphed  to  the 
apostolic  and  post-apostolic  Hterature,  though  often  arbitrary  and  untenable 
in  its  results,  has  nevertheless  done  good  service  by  removing  old  prejudices, 
placing  many  things  in  a  new  Hght,  and  conducing  to  a  comprehensive  and 
organic  view  of  the  living  process  and  gradual  growth  of  ancient  Christianity 
in  its  distinctive  character,  both  in  its  unity  with,  and  difference  from,  the 
preceding  age  of  the  apostles  and  the  succeeding  systems  of  CathoUcism  and 
Protestantism. 

In  the  notes  it  has  been  thought  preferable  to  quote  sparingly,  and  only  from 
primary  sources,  without  distracting  the  attention  o? the  reader  by  all  sorts  of 
opinions  and  conjectures  of  later  historians.  But  at  the  head  of  the  leading 
sections  he  will  find  a  select  bibhographical  apparatus,  in  chronological  order, 
directing  him  to  the  best  original  and  secondary  authorities  for  more  minute 
information.  This  apparatus  includes  many  English  and  American  works 
which  have  escaped  the  attention  of  German  scholars,  otherwise  so  famihar 
with  the  remotest  recesses  of  ancient  literature.  Owing  to  the  want  of  aid 
in  this  direction  and  my  distance  from  large  University  libraries,  I  had  to  col- 


(. 


PREFACE.  vil 

lect  them  with  considerable  trouble,  and  must  plead  the  indulgence  of  the 
reader  if  the  hst  be  still  defective.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  English  scholars 
are  not  more  careful  in  referring  to  authorities,  and  mostly  neglect  to  men- 
tion the  place  and  date  of  pubhcation,  as  well  as  the  edition  made  use  of,  so 
that  it  is  often  impossible  to  verify  their  quotations.  Bibhography,  "  the 
mariner's  compass  in  learning,"  has  been  rather  neglected  in  England. 
Lowndes'  Manual,  however,  as  revised  and  enlarged  by  Henry  G.  Bohn, 
two  parts  of  which  have  quite  recently  come  to  hand,  promises  when  com- 
pleted and  brought  down  to  the  present  time  to  remedy  this  defect,  and  to  be 
a  valuable  help  to  bibUographers. 

In  conclusion  I  must  express,  in  this  pubUc  way,  my  sense  of  obligation  to 
the  Rev.  Edward  D.  Yeomans,  for  his  assistance  in  the  preparation  of  this 
work.  After  I  had  vrritten  a  large  portion  of  the  present  volume  and 
succeeding  periods  in  EngUsh,  and  submitted  several  chapters  to  him  for 
revision,  he  expressed  the  wish  that  I  might  rewrite  the  whole  in  my  native 
German,  which  I  did.  The  suggestion,  I  am  now  convinced,  has  had  a 
happy  effect  upon  the  plan,  the  contents,  and  the  present  form  of  the  work. 
He  has  executed  the  translation  from  my  manuscripts  with  a  rare  degree  of 
ability  and  the  most  conscientious  fideUty,  and  thus  given  it  a  far  more  genuine 
English  dress  than  I  could  have  done  myself.  In  the  final  revision  and 
the  numerous  additions  to  his  translation  I  have  taken  care  not  to  deface  the 
unity  of  style,  although  there  may  be  still  occasional  Germanisms  or  other 
defects,  for  which  I  beg  alone  to  be  held  responsible.  I  sincerely  hope  that 
my  esteemed  friend  may  be  rewarded  for  his  arduous  labor  by  the  same 
unquahfied  approval  as  that  bestowed  upon  his  translation  of  my  History 
of  the  Apostohc  Church,  in  regard  to  which  a  competent  critic  and  dis- 
tinguished writer  remarked,  that  it  has  "all  the  ease  and  freedom,  the  organic 
fitness  of  the  word  to  the  thought,  in  short,  the  entire  at-homeness  of  the 
substance  in  the  form,  as  if  it  were  the  original  language  of  the  composition  ; 
insomuch  that  one  would  scarcely  suspect  it  of  being  a  translation,  unless  he 
were  told  so." 

And  now  I  commit  this  work  to  the  great  Head  of  the  church  with  the 
prayer  that,  under  his  blessing,  it  may  aid  in  promoting  a  correct  knowledge 
of  his  heavenly  kingdom  on  earth,  and  in  setting  forth  its  history  as  a  book  of 
life,  a  storehouse  of  wisdom  and  piety,  and  the  surest  test  of  his  own  promise 
to  his  people  •,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 


P.  a 


Theological  Seminary,  Mercersburg,  Pennsylvania. 
Nov.  8, 1858. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

§  1  Nature  of  Church  History, 1 

§  2  Branches  of  Church  History, 4 

§  3  Sources  of  Church  History,             6 

§  4  Duty  of  the  Historian, 1 

§  5  Division  of  Church  History, 10 

§  6  Uses  of  Church  History, 15 

§  t  Literature  of  Church  History, 15 


FIRST  PERIOD. 

THE  CHURCH  UNDER  THE  APOSTLES,  A.D.  1-100. 
§  8  General  Character  of  the  ApostoUc  Period, 20 

CHAPTER  I. 

PREPARATION   FOR  CHRISTIANITY. 

§  9  Central  Position  of  Christ  in  the  History  of  the  World,           ...  32 

§  10  Judaism,      .         .         .  _ 34 

§  11  The  Law  and  Prophecy, 38 

§  12  Heathenism, 41 

§  13  Grecian  Literature  and  the  Roman  Empire, 45 

§  14  Judaism  and  Heathenism  in  contact, 49 

CHAPTER  n. 

FOUNDING  AND  GROWTH  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

§  15  Jesus  Christ, S3 

§  16  The  Miracle  of  P«ntecost,  and  the  Birth-day  of  the  Church,  •        -        59 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


§  17  St.  Peter,  and  the  Church  among  the  Jews, 

§  18  Preparation  for  the  Mission  to  the  Gentiles, 

§  19  St.  Paul,  and  the  Church  among  the  Gentiles, 

§  20  Collision  and  Reconciliation  of  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christianity, 

§  21  St.  John,  and  the  Last  Stadium  of  the  Apostolic  Period, 


FAOB 
61 

66 
67 

74 
78 


CHAPTER  III. 

APOSTOLIC  THEOLOGY   AXD  LITERATURE. 

§22  Unity  of  the  Apostolic  Doctrine, 

§  23  Different  Types  of  the  Apostolic  Doctrine,    . 

§  24  Heretical  Perversions  of  the  Apostolic  Doctrine, 

§  25  Rise  of  the  ApostoUc  Literature, 

§  26  Character  of  the  New  Testament, 

§  27  The  Gospels, 

§  28  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 

§  29  The  Catholic  Epistles, 

§30  The  Epistles  of  Paul,   . 

§31  The  Revelation  of  John, 


81 
84 
87 
90 
92 
94 
98 
99 
101 
107 


CHAPTER  IV. 


CHRISTIAN  LIFE  AND   WORSHIP. 


32  Christianity  and  Individual  Life, 

33  Christianity  and  Society, 

34  The  Spiritual  Gifts,      . 

35  Christian  "Worship, 

36  The  Several  Parts  of  "Worship, 

37  Baptism,      .... 

38  The  Lord's  Supper, 

39  Sacred  Places  and  Times,     . 


109 
111 
114 
118 
119 
122 
125 
127 


CHAPTER   V. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE   APOSTOLIC   CHURCH. 


§  40  The  Ministry  of  the  Gospel, 

§  41  Apostles,  Prophets,  Evangelists,  . 

§  42  Presbyters,  Deacons,  Deaconesses, 

§  43  The  Council  at  Jerusalem,   . 

§  44  Church  Discipline, 

§  45  The  Church,  the  Body  of  Christ, 


130 
132 
133 
136 
136 
138 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS.  XI 

SECOND  PEEIOD. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  THE  APOSTLES  TO  CONSTANTINE,  A.D.  100-3 IL 

PAG3 

§  46  Introductory  View, 144 

CHAPTER  I. 

SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITT. 

§  47  Hindrances  and  Helps, .        .148 

§  48  Christianity  in  Asia  and  Africa, 153 

§  49  Oiiristianity  in  Europe, 164 

CHAPTER  II. 

PERSECUTION  OF  THE  CHURCH  AND  CHRISTIAN  MARTYRDOM. 

§  50  Jewish  Persecution, 156 

§  51  Heathen  Persecutions.     Its  causes  and  effects, 158 

§  53  Condition  of  the  Church  from  Nero  to  Nerva, 162 

§  53  From  Trajan  to  Antoninus  Pius, 163 

§  54  Persecutions  under  Marcus  AureUus, WG 

§  55  From  Septimius  Severus  to  Philip  the  Arabian, 168 

§  56  Persecutions  under  Decius  and  Valerian, 171 

§  57  The  Dioclesian  Persecution,  and  the  Edict  of  Toleration,       .        .        ,  174 

§  58  Christian  Martyrdom, 177 

§59  Rise  of  the  Worship  of  Martyrs  and  Relics, 181 

CHAPTER  III. 

LITERARY  CONTEST  OF  CHRISTIANITY  WITH  JTIDAISM  AND  HEATHENISM. 

§  60  Opponents  of  Christianity.     Tacitus,  Celsus,  Lucian,     ....  185 

§  61  Neo-Platonism.     Porphyry  and  Hierocles, 190 

§  62  Summary  of  the  Objections  to  Christianity, 195 

§  63  The  Apologetic  Literature  of  Christianity, 196 

§  64  The  Argument  against  Judaism, 198 

§  65  The  Defence  against  Heathenism, 200 

§  66  The  Positive  Apology, 205 

CHAPTER  IV. 

DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE   CHURCH  DOCTRINE   IN   CONFLICT   WITH   HERESY. 

§  67  Judaism  and  Heathenism  as  Heresy  within  the  Church,       .        .        .  210 

§  68  Ebionism, 212 

§  69  The  Pseudo-Clementine  Ebionism, 315 

§  70  Gnosticism.     Its  Name,  Origin,  and  Outward  History,          .        •      .  .  321 

§  71  The  System  of  Gnosticism, 225 


xii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAoa 

§  72  The  Several  Schools  of  Gnosticism, 233 

§  73  Manichaeism, 246 

§  74  The  CathoUc  Theology, 251 

§  75  The  Holy  Scripturea  and  the  Canon, 254 

§  76  Tradition  and  the  Apostles'  Creed, 258 

§  77  God  and  the  Creation, 263 

§  78  The  Logos  and  the  Incarnation, 266 

§  79  Christology,  continued 274 

§  80  Tlie  Holy  Ghost, 277 

§  81  The  Holy  Trinity, 281 

§  82  Anti-Trinitarians.     First  Class, 287 

§  83  Anti-Trinitarians.     Second  Class, 290 

§  84  Redemption, 294 

§  85  Chiliaam, 299 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE  IN   CONTRAST  WITH  PAGAN  CORRUPTION. 

§  86  Moral  Corruption  in  the  Roman  Empire, 302 

§  87  The  Christian  Morality  m  General, 306 

§  88  Opposition  to  Pagan  Amusements  and  Callings, 310 

§  89  The  Church  and  Slavery, "*  315 

§  90  Prayer  and  Fasting, 321 

§  91  Marriage  and  Family  Life, 325 

§  92  Brotherly  Love  and  Love  for  Enemies, 336 

§  93  Treatment  of  the  Dead.     The  Church  in  the  Catacombs,       .        .        .  341 

§  94  Asceticism, 346 

§  95  Voluntary  Poverty  and  CeUbacy, 351 

§  96  Celibacy  of  the  Clergy, 358 

§  97  Montanism, 361 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  CHRISTUN  -WORSHIP. 

§  98  Places  of  Common  Worship, 370 

§  99  Weekly  and  Yearly  Festivals, 372 

§  100  Christian  Symbols, 377 

§  101  Public  Worship, 881 

§  102  The  Eucharist, 386 

§  103  Baptism  and  Catechetical  Instruction.    Confirmation.        .        .         .  895 

§  104  Infant  Baptism  and  Heretical  Baptism, 401 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

ORGANIZATION  AND  DISCIPLINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

§  105  Clergy  and  Laity, 407 

§  106  New  Church  Officers, 412 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  Xlll 

PAGB 

§  107  Origin  of  the  Episcopate, 413 

§108  Development  of  the  Episcopate, 421 

§  109  Beginaings  of  the  Metropolitan  and  Patriarchal  Systems,   .        .        .  425 

§  110  Germs  of  the  Papacy, 426 

§  111  The  Catholic  Unity, 432 

§  112  Councils,            438 

§  113  Collections  of  Ecclesiastical  Laws, 440 

§  114  Church  DiscipUne, 443 

§  116  Church  Schisms,        ...                447 


CHAPTER  Vm. 

THE   CHURCH  FATHERS  AND  THEIE  WRITINGS. 

§  116  The  Patristic  Literature  in  general, .  452 

§  117  The  Apostolic  Fathers, 456 

§  118  Clement  of  Rome, .458 

§  119  Ignatius  of  Antioch, 463 

§  120  Critical  Remarks  on  the  Ignatian  Controversy, 469 

§121  Polycarp  of  Smyrna, 471 

§  122  The  other  Apostohc  Fathers,  Barnabas,  Hermas,  Papias.     The  Epis- 
tle to  Diognetus, '   .        .        .  475 

§  123  Justin  the  Philosopher  and  Martyr, 481 

§  124  The  other  Greek  Apologists  of  the  Second  Century,    ....  485 

§  125  Irenaeus, 487 

§  126  Hippolytus, 490 

§  127  The  Alexandrian  School, 495 

§  128  Clement  of  Alexandria, 498 

§  129  Origen, 501 

§  130  The  other  Greek  Theologians  of  the  Third  Century,    ....  509 

§131  TertuUian  and  the  African  School, 511 

§  132  Cyprian, 519 

§  133  The  other  Latin  Divines  of  the  Third  Century, 525 


GENERAL    INTPiODUCTION. 


LITERATUKE. 

C.  Sagittarius:  Introductio  in  historiam  ecclesiasticam.  Jen.  1694.  F. 
Walch:  Grundsiitze  der  zur  K.  Gesch.  nothigen  Vorbereitungslehren  u.. 
Biicherkenntnisse.  3d  ed.  Giess.  1793.  Flugge:  Emleitung  in  das 
Studium  u.  die  Liter,  der  K.  G.  Gott.  1801.  Mohler  (R.  C.)  :  Einlei- 
tung  in  die  K.  G.  1839  (Verm.  Schriften,  ed.  Bollinger  II.  261  sqq.). 
Kliefoth  :  Einleitung  in  die  Dogmengeschichte.  Parchim  &  Ludwigs- 
lust,  1839.  Schaff  :  What  is  Church  History  ?  A  Vindication  of  the 
Idea  of  Historical  Development.  Philad.  1846.  H.  B.  Smith  :  Nature 
and  Worth  of  the  Science  of  Church  History.  Andover,  1851.  E- 
P.  Humphrey:  Inaugural  Address,  delivered  at  the  Danville  Tlieol. 
Seminary.  Cincinnati,  1854.  E.  Turnbull  :  Christ  in  History ;  or,  the 
Central  Povrer  among  Men.  Post.  1854.  Shedd  :  Lectures  on  the  Phi- 
losophy of  History.  And.  1856.  R.  D.  Hitchcock  :  The  True  Idea  and 
Uses  of  Ch.  History.  N.  York,  1856,  Bunsen  :  Gott  in  der  Geschichte 
oder  der  Fortschritt  des  Glaubens  an  eine  sittliche  Weltordnung.  Bd.  I. 
Leipz.  1857  (Erstes  Buch.  Allg.  Einleit.  p.  1-134).  A.  P.  Stanley: 
Three  Introductory  Lectures  on  the  Study  of  Eccles.  History.  Lond. 
1857. 

Compare  also  the  introductory  chapters  of  the  general  works  on  church  his- 
tory; especially  those  of  Fleury,  Alzog,  and  Dollinger,  on  the  Roman 
Catholic  side,  and,  on  the  Protestant,  those  of  Mosheim,  Schroeckh; 
Gieseler,  Hase,  NiEDNEif,  KuRTZ  (Haudbuch.  3d  ed.  1853.  I.  1-45), 
and  ScHAFF  (History  of  the  Apostohc  Church ;  with  a  General  Introduc- 
tion to  Ch.  H.  IST.  York,  1853.  p.  1-134).  Neander  goes  in  medias  res 
without  any  formal  introduction. 

§  1.   Nature  of  Church  History. 

The  liistory  of  tlie  cliurcli  is  tlie  unfolding  in  time  of  the 
eternal  purpose  of  redeeming  love.  It  is  tlie  progressive  deve- 
lopment of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth,  for  the  glory  of 

1 


2  §   1.      NATURE   OF   CHURCH  HISTORY.  [gener. 

God  and  tlie  salvation  of  the  world.  It  begins  witli  the  creation 
of  Adam,  who  was  himself  a  type  of  Christ,  the  second  Adam , 
and  with  that  j^romise  of  the  serpent-bruiser,  which  relieved  the 
loss  of  the  paradise  of  innocence  by  the  hope  of  future  redemp- 
tion from  the  curse  of  sin.  It  comes  down  through  the  prepa- 
ratory revelations  under  the  patriarchs,  Moses,  and  the  prophets, 
to  the  immediate  forerunner  of  the  Saviour,  who  pointed  his 
followers  to  the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
\  world.  But  this^  part  of  its  course  was  only  introduction.  Its 
proper  starting-jDoint  is  the  incarnation  of  the  Eternal  "Word, 
who  dwelt  among  us  and  revealed  his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the 
only-begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth ;  and  next 
to  this,  the  miracle  of  the  first  pentecost,  when  the  church  took 
her  place  as  a  Christian  institution,  filled  with  the  spirit  of  the 
glorified  Eedeemer  and  entrusted  with  the  conversion  of  all 
nations.  Jesus  Christ,  the  God-man  and  Saviour  of  the  world, 
is  the  author  of  the  new  creation,  the  soul  and  the  head  of  the 
church,  which  is  his  body  and  his  bride.  In  his  person  and 
work  lies  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  and  of  renewed  huma- 
nity, the  whole  plan  of  redemption,  and  the  key  of  all  history 
from  the  creation  of  man  in  the  image  of  God  to  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  unto  everlasting  life. 

In  the  subjective  sense  of  the  word,  considered  as  theological 
science  and  art,  church  history  is  the  faithful  and  life-like 
description  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  this  heavenly  kingdom. 
It  aims  to  reproduce  in  thought  and  embody  in  language  its 
outward  and  inward  development  down  to  the  present  time.  It 
is  a  continuous  commentary  on  the  Lord's  twin  parables  of  the 
mustard-seed  and  of  the  leaven.  It  shows  at  once  how  Chris- 
tianity spreads  over  the  world,  and  how  it  penetrates,  transforms, 
and  sanctifies  the  individual  and  all  the  departments  and  institu- 
tions of  social  life.  It  thus  embraces  not  only  the  external  for- 
tunes of  Christendom,  but  more  especially  her  inward  experi- 
ence, her  religious  life,  her  mental  and  moral  activity,  her  con- 
flicts with  the  ungodly  world,  her  sorrows  and  sufierings,  her 
joys  and  her  triumphs  over  sin  and  error. 


INTROD.]  §   1.  .  NATURE   OF   CHURCH   HISTORY.  3 

From  Jesus  Clirist,  since  his  manifestation  in  the  flesli,  an 
unbroken  stream  of  divine  light  and  life  has  flowed  through  the 
waste  of  our  fallen  race ;  and  all  that  is  truly  great  and  good 
and  holy  in  the  annals  of  church  history,  is  due,  ultimately,  to 
the  impulse  of  his  spirit.  But  he  works  upon  the  world  through 
sinful  and  fallible  men,  who,  while  as  self-conscious  and  free 
agents  they  are  accountable  for  all  their  actions,  must  still,  will- 
ing or  unwilling,  serve  the  great  purpose  of  God.  As  Christ, 
also,  in  the  days  of  his  flesh,  was  hated,  mocked,  and  crucified, 
his  church  likewise  is  assailed  and  persecuted  by  the  powers  of 
darkness.  The  history  of  Christianity  includes  therefore  a  his- 
tory of  antichrist.  With  an  unbroken  succession  of  works  of 
saving  power  and  manifestations  of  divine  truth  and  holiness,  it 
uncovers  also  a  fearful  mass  of  corruption  and  error.  The 
church  militant  must,  from  its  very  nature,  be  at  perpetual  war- 
fare with  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  both  without  acd 
even  within.  For  as  Judas  sat  among  the  apostles,  so  "  the  man 
of  sin"  sits  in  the  temple  of  God ;  and  as  even  a  Peter  denied 
the  Lord,  though  he  afterwards  wept  bitterly  and  regained  his 
-  holy  office,  so  do  the  disciples  to  this  day  deny  him  in  word  and 
deed. 

But  then,  church  history  also  shows,  that  God  is  ever  stronger 
than  Satan,  and  that  his  kingdom  of  light  puts  the  kingdom  of 
.  darkness  to  shame.  The  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  has  bruised 
the  head  of  the  serpent.  "With  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  his 
resurrection  also  is  repeated  ever  anew  in  the  history  of  his 
church  on  earth ;  and  there  has  never  yet  been  a  day  nor  an 
hour  without  a^witness  of  his  presence  and  power  ordering  all 
things  according  to  his  holy  will.  For  he  has  received  all  power 
in  heaven  and  in  earth  for  the  good  of  his  people,  and  from  his 
heavenly  throne  he  rules  even  his  foes.  The  infallible  word  of 
promise,  confirmed  by  all  experience,  assures  us,  that  all  corrup- 
tions, heresies,  and  schisms  must,  under  the  guidance  of  divine 
wisdom  and  love,  subserve  the  cause  of  truth,  holiness,  and 
unity  ;  till,  at  the  last  judgment,  Christ  shall  make  his  enemies 
his  footstool,  and  rule  undisputed  with  the  sceptre  of  righteous- 


4  §    2.      BRAXCIIES   OF   CHL'KCH    HISTORY.  [oEXKR. 

ness  and  peace,  and  his  cTiurch  shall  realize  her  idea  and  destiny 
as  "  the  fullness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all." 

Then  will  history  itself,  in  its  present  form,  as  a  struggling  and 
changeful  development,  give  place  to  perfection,  and  the  stream 
of  time  come  to  rest  in  the  ocean  of  eternity. 

§  2.   BrancJies  of  Clnircli  IlistorTj. 

The  kingdom  of  Christ,  in  its  principle  and  aim,  is  as  compre- 
hensive as  humanity.  It  is  truly  catholic,  designed  and  adapted 
for  all  nations  and  ages,  for  all  the  powers  of  the  soul,  and  all 
classes  of  society.  It  breathes  into  the  mind,  the  heart,  and  the 
will  a  higher,  supernatural  life,  and  consecrates  the  family, 
the  state,  science,  literature,  art,  and  commerce  to  holy  ends,  till 
finally  God  becomes  all  in  all.  Even  the  body,  and  the  whole 
■visible  creation,  which  groans  for  redemption  from  its  bondage 
to  vanity  and  for  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God, 
shall  share  in  this  universal  transformation ;  for  we  look  for  the 
resurrection  of  the  bod}^,  and  for  the  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness. 

Accordingly  church  history  has  various  departments,  corre- 
sponding to  the  different  branches  of  secular  history  and  of 
natural  life.     The  principal  divisions  are : 

1.  The  history  of  missions,  or  of  the  spread  of  Christianity 
among  unconverted  nations,  whether  barbarous  or  civilized. 
This  work  must  continue,  till  the  fullness  of  the  Gentiles  shall 
come  in,  and  Israel  shall  be  saved.  Besides  foreign  missions, 
there  is  also  an  equally  important  work  of  domestic  missions, 
or  the  revival  and  reformation  of  lifeless  or  neglected  portions 
of  the  church  itself. 

2.  The  history  of  persecution  by  hostile  powers  ;  as  by  Juda- 
ism and  Heathenism  in  the  first  three  centuries,  and  by  Moham- 
medanism in  the  middle  age.  This  apparent  repression  of  the 
church,  however,  proves  a  purifying  process,  brings  out  the 
moral  heroism  of  martyrdom,  and  thus  works  in  the  end  for  the 
spread  and  establishment  of  Christianity.  "  The  blood  of  mar- 
tyrs is  the  seed  of  the  church." 


INTKOD.]  §   2.      BRANCHES   OF   CHURCH   HISTORY.  5 

Persecution,  like  missions,  is  both  foreign  and  domestic.  Be- 
sides being  assailed  from  without,  the  church  suffers  also  from 
intestine  wars  and  persecutions.  Witness  the  religious  wars  in 
France  and  Holland,  the  Thirty  Years'  War  in  Germany,  the 
Puritan  commotions  in  England;  the  crusade  against  the  Albi- 
genses  under  Innocent  III.,  the  persecution  of  the  Waldenses,  and 
the  horrors  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  These  form  the  saddest 
and  darkest  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  church.  But  they 
show  also  the  gradual  progress  of  the  truly  Christian  spirit  of 
religious  toleration  and  freedom. 

3.  The  history  of  church  government  and  discipline.  The 
church  is  not  only  an  invisible  communion  of  saints,  but  at  the 
same  time  a  visible  body,  needing  organs,  laws,  and  forms,  to 
regulate  its  activity.  Into  this  department  of  history  fall  the 
various  forms  of  church  government;  the  apostolic,  the  primi- 
tive episcopal,  the  patriarchal,  the  papal,  the  consistorial,  the 
presbyterial,  the  congregational,  &c. ;  and  the  history  of  the  law 
and  discipline  of  the  church,  and  her  relation  to  the  state,  under 
all  these  forms. 

4.  The  history  of  worship  or  divine  service,  by  which  the 
church  celebrates,  revives,  and  strengthens  her  fellowship  with 
her  divine  head.  This  falls  into  such  subdivisions  as  the  history 
of  preaching,  of  catechisms,  of  liturgy,  of  sacred  rites,  esjoecially 
the  sacraments,  and  of  religious  art,  particularly  sacred  poetry 
and  music.  ^ 

The  history  of  church  government  and  the  history  of  worship 
are  often  put  together  under  the  title  of  Ecclesiastical  Antiqui- 
ties or  Archaeology,  and  commonly  confined  to  the  patristic  age, 
whence  most  of  the  catholic  institutions  and  usages  of  the 
church  date  their  origin.  But  they  may  as  well  be  extended  to 
the  formative  period  of  Protestantism. 

5.  The  history  of  Christian  life,  or  practical  morality  and 
religion  ; — the  exhibition  of  the  distinguishing  virtues  and  vices 
of  different  ages,  of  the  development  of  Christian  philanthropy, 
the  regeneration  of  domestic  and  social  life,  the  gradual  abate- 
ment of  slavery  and  other  social  evils,  the  reform  of  civil  law 


6  §   3.      SOURCES  OF  CHURCH   HISTORY.  [geneb. 

and  of  government,  the  spread  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and 
the  whole  progress  of  civilization,  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

6.  The  history  of  theology,  or  of  Christian  science  and* 
literature.  Each  branch  of  theology,  exegetical,  doctrinal, 
ethical,  historical,  and  practical,  has  a  history  of  its  own.  But 
the  history  of  doctrines  is  here  the  most  important,  and  is  there- 
fore frequently  treated  by  itself.  Its  object  is  to  show  how  the 
mind  of  the  church  has  gradually  apprehended  and  unfolded 
the  divine  truth  given  in  the  holy  scriptures,  how  the  teachings 
of  scripture  have  come  to  form  the  dogmas  of  the  church,  and 
have  grown  into  systems  stamped  with  pubhc  authority.  This 
growth  of  the  church  in  the -knowledge  of  the  infallible  word 
of  God  is  a  constant  struggle  against  error  and  unbelief;  and  the 
history  of  heresies  is  an  essential  part  of  the  history  of  doctrines. 

These  departments  of  church  history  have  not  a  merely 
external  and  mechanical  but  an  organic  relation  to  each  other, 
and  form  one  living  whole ;  and  this  relation  the  historian  must 
show.  Each  j)eriod  also  is  entitled  to  a  pecuHar  arrangement, 
according  to  its  character.  The  number,  order,  and  extent  of 
the  different  divisions  must  be  determined  by  their  actual  import 
ance  at  a  given  time. 

§  8.  Sources  of  Church  History. 

The  sources  of  church  history,  the  data  on  which  we  rely  for 
our  knowledge,  are  partly  divine,  partly  human.  For  the  his- 
tory of  the  kingdom  of  God  from  the  fall  to  the  incarnation  and 
the  apostolic  age,  we  have  the  inspired  writings  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments.  But  after  the  death  of  the  apostles  we  have 
only  human  authorities,  which  of  course  cannot  claim  to  be  infal- 
lible.   These  human  sources  are  partly  written,  partly  unwritten. 

I.  The  written  sources  include : 

(a)  Ofl&cial  documents  of  ecclesiastical  and  civil  authorities ; — 
acts  of  councils,  confessions  of  faith,  liturgies,  church  laws,  and 
the  official  letters  of  popes,  patriarchs,  bishops,  and  synods. 
"  (b)  Private  writings  of  personal  actors  in  the  history; — the 


INTUOD.]  §   4.      DUTY   OF   THE   HISTORIAN.  7 

works  of  the  cliurcli  fathers  for  the  first  six  centuries,  of  the 
scholastic  and  mystic  divines  for  the  middle  age,  and  of  the 
reformers  and  their  opponents  for  the  sixteenth  century.  These 
documents  are  the  richest  mines  for  the  historian.  They  give  his- 
tory in  its  birth  and  actual  movement.  But  they  must  be  care- 
fully sifted  and  weighed ;  especially  the  controversial  writings, 
where  fact  is  generally  more  or  less  adulterated  with  party  spirit, 
heretical  and  orthodox, 

(c)  Accounts  of  historians,  whether  friends  or  enemies,  who 
were  eye-witnesses  of  what  they  relate.  The  value  of  these 
depends,  of  course,  on  the  capacity  ajid  credibility  of  the  authors, 
to  be  determined  by  careful  criticism.  Subsequent  historians 
can  be  counted  among  the  direct  and  immediate  sources,  only  so 
far  as  they  have  drawn  from  reliable  and  contemporary  docu- 
ments, which  have  either  been  wholly  or  partially  lost,  like 
many  of  Eusebius'  authorities  for  the  period  before  Constantine, 

or  are  inaccessible  to  historians  generally,  as  are  the  papal  regesta    f^ 
and  other  documents  of  the  Vatican  library. 

(d)  Inscriptions,  especially  those  on  tombs  and  catacombs, 
revealing  the  faith  and  hope  of  Christians  in  times  of  persecu- 
tion. 

II.  The  unwritten  sources  are  far  less  numerous ;  church  edi- 
fices, works  of  sculpture  and  painting,  and  other  monuments, 
very  important  for  the  history  of  worship  and  ecclesiastical  art, 
and  significant  of  the  religious  spirit  of  their  age.  The  Gothic 
cathedrals,  for  example,  are  a  most  instructive  embodiment  of 
mediseval  Catholicism. 

§  4,  Dull/  of  the  Historian. 

The  first  duty  of  the  historian,  which  comprehends  all  others, 
is  fidelity,  the  reproduction  of  the  history  itself,  making  it  live 
again  in  his  representation.  His  highest  and  only  aim  should  be 
to  tell  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth. 

To  be  thus  faithful  he  needs  a  threefold  qualification,  scientific, 
artistic,  and  religious, 

1,  He  must  master  the  sources.     For  this  purpose  he  must  bo 


8  §   -1.      DUTY   OF   THE   niSTOIlIAISr,  [gener. 

acquainted  with  sucli  auxiliary  sciences  as  ecclesiastical  philology 
(especially  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  in  which  most  of  the 
earlier  documents  arc  written),  secular  history,  geography,  and 
chronology.  Then  in  making  use  of  the  sources,  he  must 
thoroughly  and  impartially  examine  their  genuineness  and  inte- 
grity, and  the  credibility  and  capacity  of  the  witnesses.  Thus 
only  can  he  duly  separate  fact  from  fiction,  truth  from  error. 

2.  Then  comes  the  comjDOsition.  This  is  an  art,  subject  to  aes- 
thetic laws.  It  must  not  simply  recount  events,  but  reproduce 
the  development  of  the  church  in  living  process.  History  is  not 
a  heap  of  dry  bones,  but  an.  organism  filled  and  ruled  by  a  rea- 
sonable soul. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  here  lies  in  arranging  the  material. 
The  best  method  in  general  is,  no  doubt,  to  combine  judiciously 
the  chronological  and  to23ical  principles  of  division  ;  presenting 
at  once  the  succession  of  events  and  the  several  parallel  (and 
indeed  interwoven)  departments  of  the  history  in  due  proportion. 
Accordingly,  we  first  divide  the  whole  history  into  periods,  not 
arbitrary,  but  furnished  by  the  actual  course  of  events ;  and  then 
present  each  of  these  periods  in  as  many  parallel  sections  or  chap- 
ters as  the  material  itself  su2:o"csts.  As  to  the  number  of  the 
periods  and  chapters,  and  as  to  the  arrangement  of  the  chapters, 
there  are  indeed  conflicting  opinions,  and  in  the  application  of 
our  principle,  as  indeed  in  our  whole  representation,  we  can  only 
make  approaches  to  perfection.  But  the  principle  itself  is  never, 
theless  the  only  true  one. 

The  ancient  classical  historians,  and  most  of  the  English  and 
French,  generally  present  their  subject  in  one  homogeneous  com- 
position of  successive  books  or  chapters,  without  rubrical  divi- 
sion. This  method  might  seem  to  bring  out  better  the  living 
unity  and  variety  of  the  history  at  every  point.  Yet  it  really 
does  not.  Language,  unlike  the  pencil  and  the  chisel,  can  exhi- 
bit only  the  succession  in  time,  not  the  local  concomitance.  And 
then  this  method,  rigidl}'  pursued,  never  gives  a  complete  view 
of  any  one  subject,  of  doctrine,  worship,  or  practical  lif(\  It  con- 
stantly mixes  the  various  topics,  breaking  ofi:'  from  one  to  bring 


INTROD.]  §  4.      DUTY   OF  THE   HISTORIAN.  9 

up  another,  even  by  tlie  most  sudden  transitions,  till  tlie  alterna- 
tion is  exhausted.  The  German  method  of  periodical  and  rubri- 
cal arrangement  has  certainly  great  practical  advantages  for  the 
student  in  bringing  to  view  the  order  of  subjects,  as  well  as  the 
order  of  time.  But  it  should  not  be  made  a  uniform  and  mono- 
tonous mechanism,  as  is  done  in  the  Magdeburg  Centuries  and 
many  subsequent  works.  For  while  history  has  its  order,  both 
of  subject  and  of  time,  it  is  yet,  like  all  life,  full  of  variety. 
The  period  of  the  reformation  requires  a  very  different  arrange- 
ment from  the  middle  age.  And  in  modern  history  the  rubrical 
division  must  be  combined  with  and  made  subject  to  a  division 
by  confessions  and  countries,  as  the  Roman  Catholic,  Lutheran, 
Reformed  churches  in  Grermany,  France,  England,  and  America. 

The  best  method,  then,  is  that  which  reproduces  both  the 
unity  and  the  variety  of  history,  presenting  the  different  tojoics  in 
their  separate  completeness,  without  overlooking  their  organic 
connexion.  Only  the  scheme  must  not  be  arbitrarily  made,  and 
then  pedantically  applied,  as  a  Procrustean  framework,  to  the 
history ;  but  deduced  from  the  history  itself,  and  varied  as  the 
facts  require. 

3.  But  both  scientific  research  and  artistic  representation  must 
be  guided  by  a  sound  moral  and  religious  spirit. 

The  historian  must  first  lay  aside  all  prejudice  and  party  zeal, 
and  proceed  in  the  pure  love  of  truth.  Not  that  he  must  become 
a  tabula  rasa.  No  man  is  able,  or  should  attempt,  to  cast  off  all 
the  educational  influences  which  have  made  him  what  he  is. 
But  the  historian  of  the  church  of  Christ  must  in  every  thing  be 
as  true  as  possible  to  the  objective  fact,  sine  ira  et  studio ;  do 
justice  to  every  person  and  event ;  and  stand  in  the  centre  of 
Christianity,  whence  he  may  see  all  points  in  the  circumference,  all 
individual  persons  and  events,  all  confessions,  denominations,  and 
sects,  in  their  true  relations  to  each  other  and  to  the  glorious  whole. 

Then  he  must  be  in  thorough  sympathy  with  his  subject,  and 
enthusiastically  devoted  thereto.  As  no  one  can  interpret  a 
poet  without  poetic  feeling  and  taste,  or  a  philosopher  without 
speculative  talent ;  so  no  one  can  rightly  comprehend  and  exhibit 


10  §  5.      DIVISIOX   OF   CnURCII  HISTORY.  [gexek. 

the  liistorj  of  Christianity  without  a  Christian  spirit.  An  unbe- 
liever could  produce  only  a  repulsive  caricature,  or  at  best  a 
lifeless  statue.  The  higher  the  historian  stands  on  Christian 
ground,  the  larger  is  his  horizon,  and  the  more  full  and  clear  his 
view  of  single  regions  below,  and  of  their  mutual  bearings. 
Even  error  can  be  fairly  seen  only  from  the  position  of  truth. 
"Yerum  est  index  sui  et  falsi."  Christianity  is  the  absolute 
truth,  which,  like  the  sun,  both  reveals  itself  and  enlightens  all 
that  is  dark. 

So  far  as  the  historian  combines  these  three  qualiiications,  he 
fulfils  his  office.  In  this  life  we  can,  of  course,  only  approach 
perfection  in  this  or  in  any  other  branch  of  study.  Absolute  suc- 
cess would  require  infallibility ;  and  this  is  denied  to  mortal 
man.  The  full  solution  of  the  mysteries  of  history  is  reserved 
for  that  heavenly  state,  when  we  shall  see  no  longer  through  a 
glass  darkly,  but  face  to  face,  and  shaU  survey  the  developments 
of  time  from  the  heights  of  eternity.  What  St.  Augustine  so 
aptly  says  of  the  mutual  relation  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
"  Novum  Testamentum  m  Veie7-e  lately  Yetus  in  Novo  'paiet^''  may 
be  applied  also  to  the  relation  of  this  world  and  the  world  to 
come.  The  history  of  the  church  militant  is,  throughout,  but  a 
type  and  a  prophecy  of  the  triumphant  kingdom  of  God  in 
heaven — a  prophecy  which  can  be  perfectly  understood  only  in 
the  glory  of  its  fulfilment. 

§  5.  Division  of  Church  History. 

The  purely  chronological  or  annalistic  method,  though  pur- 
sued by  the  learned  Baronius  and  his  continuators,  is  now  gene- 
rally abandoned.  It  breaks  the  natural  flow  of  events,  separates 
things  which  belong  together,  and  degrades  history  to  a  mere 
chronicle. 

The  centurial  plan,  which  prevailed  from  Flacius  to  Mosheim, 
is  certainly  an  improvement.  It  allows  a  much  better  view  of 
the  progress  and  connexion  of  things.  But  it  still  imposes 
on  the  history  a  forced  and  mechanical  arrangement;  for  the 
salient  points  or  epochs  very  seldom  coincide  with  the  limits  of 


INTROD.]  §   5.      DIVISION   OF   CHURCH   HISTORY.  11 

our  centuries.  The  rise  of  Constantine,  for  example,  together 
with  the  union  of  church  and  state,  dates  from  the  year  311 ; 
that  of  the  absolute  paj^acy,  in  Hildebrand,  from  1019  ;  the 
reformation  from  1517 ;  the  peace  of  "Westphalia  took  place  in 
1648 ;  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England  in 
1620  ;  the  American  emancipation  in  1776  ;  the  French  revolu- 
tion in  1789. 

The  true  division  must  grow  out  of  the  actual  course  of  the 
history  itself,  and  present  the  diiferent  phases  of  its  development 
or  stages  of  its  life.  These  we  call  periods  or  ages.  In  regard 
to  their  number  and  extent  there  is,  indeed,  no  unanimity  ;  the 
less,  on  account  of  the  various  denominational  differences  esta- 
blishing different  points  of  view,  especially  since  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  reformation,  for  instance,  has  less  importance  for 
the  Eoman  church  than  for  the  Protestant,  and  almost  none  for 
the  Greek ;  and  while  the  edict  of  Nantes  forms  a  resting-place 
in  the  history  of  French  Protestantism,  and  the  treaty  of  West- 
phalia in  that  of  German,  neither  of  these  events  had  anything 
to  do  with  English  Protestantism,  compared  with  the  accession 
of  Elizabeth,  the  rise  of  Cromwell,  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts, 
or  the  revolution  of  1688.  But,  in  spite  of  all  confusion  and 
difficulty  in  regard  to  details,  it  is  generally  agreed  to  divide  the 
history  of  the  church  into  three  principal  parts,  ancient,  mediee- 
val,  and  modern ;  though  there  is  not  a  like  agreement  as  to  the 
dividing  epochs,  or  points  of  departure  and  points  of  termina- 
tion. 

1.  The  history  of  the  ancient  church,  from  the  birth  of  Christ 
to  Gregory  the  Great  (a.d.  1-590),  is  the  age  of  the  Graeco- 
Latin  primitive  Christianity,  or  of  the  church  fathers.  Its  field 
is  the  countries  around  the  Mediterranean  ;  western  Asia,  north- 
ern Africa,  and  southern  Europe — just  the  theatre  of  the  old 
Eoman  empire  and  of  classic  heathendom.  This  age  lays  the 
foundation,  in  doctrine,  government,  and  worship,  for  all  the 
subsequent  history.  It  is  the  common  progenitor  of  all  the 
various  confessions. 

Among  these  first  six   centuries,  the   first  century,   or  the 


12  §   5.      DIVISION   OF  CHURCH   HISTORY.  [geneh. 

apostolic  period,  the  regulative  and  authoritative  groundwork 
of  the  whole  church,  requires  to  be  treated  by  itself. 

Then,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  the  accession  of 
Constantine,  the  first  Christian  emperor,  marks  a. most  important 
turn ;  Christianity  rising  from  a  persecuted  sect  to  the  prevail- 
ing religion  of  the  Grasco-Roman  empire.  In  the  history  of 
doctrines,  the  first  ecumenical  council  of  Nice,  falling  in  the 
midst  of  Constantine's  reign,  a.d.  325,  has  the  prominence  of  an 
epoch. 

Here,  then,  are  three  periods  within  the  first  or  patristic  age. 

2.  The  middle  age  is  variously  reckoned — from  Constantine, 
806  or  311 ;  from  the  fall  of  the  West  Roman  empire,  476 ; 
from  Gregory  the  Great,  590 ;  from  Charlemagne,  800.  But  it 
is  very  generally  regarded  as  closing  at  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  more  precisely,  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
reformation  in  1517.  Gregory  the  Great  seems  to  us  to  form 
the  most  proper  ecclesiastical  point  of  division.  "With  him,  the 
author  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  mission,  the  last  of  the  church 
fathers,  and  the  first  of  the  proper  popes,  begins  in  earnest,  and 
■with  decisive  success,  the  conversion  of  the  Germanic  tribes,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  the  development  of  absolute  papacy  and  the 
alienation  of  the  eastern  and  western  churches.  This  suggests 
the  distinctive  character  of  this  middle  age,  the  transition  of  the 
church  from  Asia  and  Aft-ica  to  middle  and  western  Europe, 
from  the  Gr^co-Roman  nationality  to  that  of  the  Romanic  and 
Germanic  tribes,  and  from  the  culture  of  the  ancient  classic 
world  to  the  modern  civilization  of  Germanic  Christendom. 
The  great  work  of  the  church  then  was  the  conversion  and  edu- 
cation of  the  heathen  barbarians,  who  conquered  and  demolished 
the  Roman  empire,  indeed,  but  were  themselves  conquered  and 
transformed  by  its  Christianity.  This  work  w^as  performed 
mainly  by  the  Latin  church,  under  a  firm  hierarchical  constitu- 
tion, culminating  in  the  bishop  of  Rome.  The  Greek  church, 
though  she  made  some  conquests  among  the  Slavic  tribes  of 
eastern  Europe,  particularly  in  the  Russian  empire,  since  grown 
so  important,  was  in  turn  sorely  pressed  and  reduced  by  Moham- 


IXTROD.]  §   5.      DIVISION   OF   CHURCH   HISTORY.  18 

medanism  in  Asia  and  Africa,  the  very  seat  of  primitive  Cliris- 
tianity,  and  at  last  in  Constantinople  itself;  and  in  doctrine, 
worship,  and  organization,  she  stopped  at  the  position  of  the     ( 
ecumenical  councils  and  the  ^patriarchal  constitution  of  the  fifth 
century. 

In  the  middle  age,  where  the  development  of  the  hierarchy 
occupies  the  foreground,  three  poj^es  stand  out  as  representatives 
of  as  many  epochs.  Grregory  I.,  or  the  Grreat  (590),  marks  the 
rise  of  absolute  papacy ;  Gregory  YII,,  or  Hildebrand  (1049),  its 
summit ;  and  Boniface  VIII.  (1294),  its  decline.  Here  we  thus 
have  again  three  periods  in  mediaeval  church  history. 

3.  Modern  church  history,  from  the  reformation  of  the  six- 
teenth century  to  the  present  time,  moves  chiefly  among  the 
Grermanic  nations  of  middle  and  western  Europe,  and  from  the 
seventeenth  century  finds  a  vast  new  theatre  in  North  America.  ) 
Western  Christendom  now  splits  into  two  hostile  parts — one 
holding  on  the  old  path,  the  other  striking  out  a  new  one ;  while 
the  eastern  church  withdraws  still  further  from  the  stage  of  his- 
tory, and  presents  a  scene  of  almost  undisturbed  stagnation. 
Modern  church  history  is  the  age  of  Protestantism  in  conflict 
with  Eomanism,  of  religious  liberty  and  independence  in  conflict 
with  the  principle  of  authority  and  tutelage,  of  individual  and 
personal  Christianity  against  an  objective  church  system. 

Here  again  two  or  three  different  periods  appear,  which  may 
be  denoted  briefly  by  the  terms  reformation,  revolution,  and 
restoration. 

The  sixteenth  century,  next  to  the  apostolic  age  the  most 
fruitful  and  interesting  period  of  church  history,  is  the  century 
of  the  Protestant  renovation  of  the  church,  and  the  Roman  coun- 
ter-reform. 

The  seventeenth  century  is  the  period  of  scholastic  orthodoxy, 
polemic  confessionalism,  and  comparative  stagnation.  The 
reformatory  motion  ceases  on  the  continent,  but  goes  on  in  the 
mighty  Puritanic  struggle  in  England,  which  extends  even  into 
the  primitive  forests  of  the  American  colonies.  Then  comes  the 
Pietistic  and  Methodistic  reaction  against  dead  orthodoxy  and       ( 


14  §  5.      DIVISION   OF   CnURCn  history.  [gexer. 

stiff  formalism.  In  the  Roman  cliurcli  Jesuitism  prevails,  but 
opposed  by  the  half-evangelical  Jansenism. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  begins  the  vast 
overturning  of  traditional  ideas  and  institutions,  leading  to  revo- 
lution in  state  and  infidelity  in  church,  especially  in  France  and 
Germany. 

The  nineteenth  century  presents,  in  part,  the  further  develop- 
ment of  these  negative  and  destructive  tendencies,  but  with  it 
also  the  revival  of  Christian  faith  and  church  life,  and  the  begin- 
nings of  a  new  creation  by  the  everlasting  gospel.  At  the  same 
time  North  America,  full  of  vigor  and  promise,  English  and 
Protestant  in  its  prevailing  character,  but  presenting  an  asylum 
for  all  the  nations,  churches,  and  sects  of  the  old  world,  with 
a  complete  separation  of  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual  power, 
comes  upon  the  stage. 

Thus  we  have,  in  all,  nine  periods  of  church  history,  as  fol- 
lows : — 

First  Period  :  The  apostolic  church,    a.d.  1-100. 

Second  Period  :  The  church  persecuted  as  a  sect ;  to  Con- 
stantine,  the  first  Christian  emperor,     a.d.  100-311. 

TniRD  Period  :  The  church  in  union  with  the  Greeco-Roman 
empire  and  amidst  the  storms  of  the  great  migration ;  to  pope 
Gregory  I.     a.d.  311-590. 

Fourth  Period  :  The  church  planted  among  the  Germanic 
nations ;  to  Hildebrand.     a.d.  590-1049. 

Fifth  Period  :  The  church  under  the  papal  hierarchy  and 
the  scholastic  theology ;  to  Boniface  VIII.     a.d.  1049-1294. 

Sixth  Period  :  The  'decay  of  mediaeval  Catholicism,  and  the 
preparatory  movements  of  Protestantism.     A.D.  1294-1517. 

Seventh  Period  :  The  evangelical  reformation  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  reaction.     A  D.  1517-1600. 

Eighth  Period  :  The  age  of  polemic  orthodoxy  and  exclu- 
sive confessionalism.     A.D.  1600-1750. 

Ninth  Period  :  The  spread  of  infidelity,  and  the  revival  of 
Christianity  in  Europe  and  America.  From  1750  to  the  present 
time. 


INTROD.]  §   6.      USES   OF   CHURCH   HISTORY.  15 

§  6.    Uses  of  Church  Ilistorij. 

Churcli  history  is  the  most  extensive,  and,  inckiding  the  sacred 
history  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  the  most  important 
branch  of  theology. 

It  has,  in  the  first  place,  a  general  interest  for  every  cultivated 
mind,  as  showing  the  moral  and  religious  development  of  our 
race,  and  the  gradual  execution  of  the  divine  plan  of  Tedemption. 

It  has  special  value  for  the  theologian  and  minister  of  the  gos- 
pel, as  the  key  to  the  present  condition  of  Christendom  and  the 
guide  to  successful  labor  in  her  cause.  The  present  is  the  fruit 
of  the  past  and  the  germ  of  the  future.  No  work  can  stand  un- 
less it  grow  out  of  the  real  wants  of  the. age  and  strike  firm  root 
in  the  soil  of  history.  No  one  who  tramples  on  the  rights  of  a 
past  generation,  can  claim  the  regard  of  its  posterity. 

Finally,  the  history  of  the  church  has  practical  value  for  every 
Christian,  as  a  storehouse  of  warning  and  encouragement,  of 
consolation  and  of  counsel.  It  is  the  philosophy  of  facts,  Chris- 
tianity in  living  examples.  If  history  in  general  be,  as  Cicero 
describes  it,  "testis  temporum,  lux  veritatis,  et  magistra  vitte," 
or,  as  Diodorus  calls  it,  "a  handmaid  of  providence,  a  priestess 
of  truth,  and  a  mother  of  wisdom,"  the  history  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  all  these  in  the  highest  degree.  Next  to  the  holy 
scriptures,  which  are  themselves,  in  fact,  a  history  and  deposi- 
tory of  divine  revelation,  there  is  no  stronger  proof  of  the  con- 
tinual presence  of  Christ  with  his  people,  no  more  thorough 
vindication  of  Christianity,  no  richer  source  of  spiritual  wisdom 
and  experience,  no  deeper  incentive  to  virtue  and  piety,  than 
the  history  of  the  church. 

§  7.  Literature  of  Church  History. 

Staudlin:  Geschichte  u.  Literatur  der  K.  G.  Hann.  1827.  F.  C.  Baur:  Die 
Epochen  der  kirchlichen  Geschichtschreibung.  Ttib.  1852.  P.  Schaff  : 
H.  Apost.  Church,  p.  51-134. 

Like  every  other  science  and  art,  church  historiography  has  a 
history,  a  gradual  progress  towards  its  true  perfection.  This  his- 
tory exhibits  not  only  a  continual  growth  of  material,  but  also  a 


16  §    7.      LITERATUEE   OF   CllL'llCll    lllSTOUY.  [ckxer 

gradual,  tliough  sometimes  long  interrupted,  improvement  of 
method,  from  the  mere  collection  of  names  and  dates  in  a  Chris- 
tian chronicle,  to  critical  research  and  discrimination,  pragmatic 
reference  to  causes  and  motives,  scientific  command  of  material, 
philosophical  generalization,  and  artistic  reproduction  of  the 
actual  history  itself  In  this  progress  also  are  marked  the  vari- 
ous confessipnal  and  denominational  phases  of  Christianity,  giving 
different  points  of  view,  and  consequently  different  conceptions 
and  representations  of  the  several  periods  and  divisions  of  Chris- 
tendom ;  so  that  the  development  of  the  church  itself  is  mirrored 
in  the  development  of  church  historiography. 

We  can  here  do  no  more  than  mention  the  leading  works 
which  mark  the  successive  epochs  in  the  growth  of  our  science : — 

1.  In  the  apostolic  church.  The  first  works  on  church  his- 
tory are  the  canonical  gospels  of  Matthew,  Makk,  Luke,  and 
John,  the  inspired  biographies  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  thean- 
thropic  head  and  the  inexhaustible  fountain  of  the  whole  history 
of  the  kingdom  of  God.  These  are  followed  by  Luke's  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  which  describes  the  planting  of  the  church  among 
Jews  and  Gentiles  from  Jerusalem  to  Rome,  by  the  labors  of  the 
apostles,  especially  Peter  and  Paul. 

2.  In  the  Greek  church  appear  the  first  post-apostolic  works 
on  church  history,  as,  indeed,  all  branches,  of  theological  lite- 
rature there  take  their  rise. 

Eusebius,  bishop  of  Cicsarea,  in  Palestine,  and  contemporary 
with  Constantine  the  Great,  composed  a  church  history  in  ten 
books  (ixxXiitfiaCrfjcii  itfTopiaj  from  the  incarnation  of  the  Logos  to 
the  year  324),  by  which  he  has  won  the  title  of  the  Father  of 
church  liistory,  or  the  Christian  Herodotus.  Though  by  no 
means  very  critical  and  discerning,  and  fir  inferior  in  literary 
talent  and  execution  to  the  works  of  the  great  classical  histo- 
rians, this  ante-Nicene  church  history  is  invaluable  for  its  learn- 
ing, moderation,  and  love  of  truth  ;  for  its  use  of  sources,  since 
totally  or  partially  lost;  and  for  its  interesting  position  of  per- 
sonal observation  between  the  last  persecutions  of  the  church  and 
her  establishment  in  the  Byzantine  empire. 


INTROD.]  §    7.      LITERATURE   OF   CHURCH   HISTORY.  17 

Tlie  work  of  Eusebius  was  continued  in  similar  spirit  and  on 
the  same  plan  by  Socrates,  Sozomen,  and  Theodoret  in  the 
\  fifth  century,  and  Theodorus  and  Evagrius  in  the  sixth,  each 
taking  up  the  thread  of  the  narrative  where  his  predecessor  had 
dropped  it.  Of  the  later  Greek  historians,  from  the  seventh 
century  to  the  fifteenth,  the  Scriptores  Byzantini,  as  they  are 
called,  NiCEPHORUS  Callisti  (about  a.d.  1333)  deserves  special 
regard. 

3.  The  Latin  church,  before  the  reformation,  was,  in  church  his- 
tory, as  in  all  other  theological  studies,  at  first  wholly  dependent 
on  the  Greek,  and  long  content  with  mere  translations  and 
extracts  from  Eusebius  and  his  continuators. 

The  most  popular  of  these  was  the  Historia  tripartita^  com- 
piled by  Cassiodorus,  who  died  about  a.d.  562. 

The  middle  age  produced  no  general  church  history  of  conse- 
quence, but  a  host  of  chronicles,  and  histories  of  particular 
nations,  monastic  orders,  eminent  popes,  bishops,  missionaries,, 
saints,  &c.  Though  rarely  worth  much  as  compositions,  these 
are  yet  of  great  value  as  material,  which,  however,  needs  to  be 
carefully  sifted. 

4.  The  Roman  Catholic  church  was  roused  by  the  shock  of  the 
reformation,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  to  great  activity  in  this^ 
and  other  departments  of  theology,  and  produced  some  works  of 
immense  learning  and  antiquarian  research,  but  generally  cha- 
racterized rather  by  zeal  for  the  papacy,  and  against  Protestant- 
ism, than  by  the  purely  historical  spirit.  The  greatest  Eoman 
Catholic  church  historians  are  either  Italians,  and  ultramontane 
in  spirit,  or  Frenchmen,  mostly  on  the  side  of  the  somewhat 
more  liberal  but  less  consistent  Gallicanism. 

First  stands  the  Cardinal  C^sar  Baronius  (f  1607),  with  his 
Annales  ecclesiastici  (Eom.  1588  sqq.)  in  twelve  folio  volumes,  on 
which  he  spent  thirty  years  of  unwearied  study.  They  come 
down  only  to  the  year  1198,  but  are  continued,  though  with 
much  less  ability,  by  Eaynaldus,  Bzovius,  Spondanus,  and 
others  (complete  edition  of  Lucca  in  thirty-eight  volumes  folio), 
to  near  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  quite  recently 

2 


18  §   7.      LITERATURE   OF   CHURCH   HISTORY.  [gener. 

Theiner  lias  resumed  tlie  continuation.  This  colossal  work 
stands  wholly  on  the  ground  of  absolute  ultramontane  papacy, 
and  is  designed  as  a  positive  refutation  of  the  Magdeburg  Cen- 
turies, which,  however,  it  does  not  condescend  directly  to  notice. 
But  it  was  severely  criticized,  and  in  part  refuted,  not  only  by 
such  Protestants  as  Casaubonus,  Spanheim,  and  Samuel  Basnage, 
but  by  Catholic  scholars  also,  especially  Pagi.  Still  with  all  its 
defects  it  remains  invaluable  to  the  historian,  for  its  use  of  the 
many  rare  and  hardly  accessible  sources  in  the  Vatican  library 
and  other  archives. 

Natalis  Alexander  (tl724)  wrote  his  Historia  ecclesiastica 
Veteris  et  Kovi  Testamenti  (Paris,  1699  sqq.,  8  vols,  fol.)  in  the 
spirit  of  Gallicanism,  learnedly,  but  in  dry  scholastic  style. 

The  abbot  Claude  Fleury  (f  1723),  in  his  Ilistoire  ecdesi- 
asiique  (Par.  1691  sqq.,  20  vols.,  down  to  A.  D.  1414,  continued 
by  Fabre),  furnished  a  much  more  popular  work,  commended  by 
mildness  of  spirit  and  fluency  of  style,  and  as  useful  for  edifica- 
tion as  for  instruction. 

Jacques  Benigne  Bossuet,  the  distinguished  bishop  of 
Meaux  (f  1704),  an  advocate  of  Eomanism  on  the  one  hand 
against  Protestantism,  but  of  Gallicanism  on  the  other  against 
Ultramontanism,  wrote  in  brilhant,  eloquent  style,  and  in  the 
spirit  of  the  Catholic  church,  a  universal  history :  Discours  sur 
Vhistoire  universelle  dci^uis  le  commencement  du  m,onde  jusqu^d 
V empire  de  Charlemagne  (Paris,  1681).  This  was  continued  in 
the  German  language  by  the  Protestant  Cramer,  with  less  ele- 
gance but  more  thoroughness,  and  with  special  reference  to  the 
doctrine  history  of  the  middle  age. 

Tillemont  (f  1698),  who  sympathized  at  least  partially  with 
Jansenism  and  Gallicanism,  composed  a  history  of  the  patristic 
age  with  great  skill  and  conscientiousness,  almost  entirely  in  the 
words  of  the  original  authorities  :  Memoires  pour  servir  d  Vhistoire 
ecclesiastique  des  six  premieres  siecles  jusiifiis  par  les  citations 
des  auieurs  ortginaux  (16  vols.  Paris,  1693  sqq.) ;  by  far  the 
most  learned  and  the  most  useful  of  all  the  French  church 
histories. 


^ 


IKTROD.]  §   7.      LITEKATURE   OF   CHURCH  HISTORY.  19 

Caspar  Sacharelli  :  Historia  ecclesiasiica,  Eom.  1772-95. 
25  vols,  to  A.D.  1185. 

The  German  poet,  Leopold  von  Stolberg  (f  1819),  witli  the 
enthusiasm  of  an  honest,  noble,  and  devout,  but  credulous  and 
uncritical  convert,  began  a  very  full  OescMchte  der  Religion 
Jesu  Christi  (Hamburg,  1806  sqq.),  which  he  brought  down  in 
fifteen  volumes  to  the  year  430.  The  continuations  by  Kertz 
(vols.  16-32,  to  A.D.  1300),  and  Brischar  (vols.  33  sqq.)  are  quite 
inferior. 

Eohrbacher's  Hisioire  universelh  de  Teglise  (Par.  1842-48, 
vols.  29)  is  the  last  great  French  work  in  this  department.  It 
avails  itself  of  German  investigations,  but  it  is  more  strictly 
Eoman  than  its  Galhcan  predecessors  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries. 

The  best  Eoman  Catholic  manuals  of  church  history  are  those 
of  DoLLiNGER,  EiTTER,  and  Alzog. 

6.  The  Protestant  church  historians. 

The  reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  is  the  mother  of 
church  history  as  a  science  and  art  in  the  proper  sense  of  the 
term.  It  seemed  at  first  to  break  off  from  the  past,  to  depreci- 
ate church  history,  by  going  back  directly  to  the  Bible  as  the 
only  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and  especially  to  look  most 
unfavorably  on  the  Catholic  middle  age,  as  a  progressive  cor- 
ruption of  the  apostolic  doctrine  and  discipHne.  But  on  the 
other  hand  it  exalted  priinitive  Christianity,  and  awakened  a 
new  and  enthusiastic  interest  in  all  the  documents  of  the  apos- 
tolic church,  with  an  energetic  effort  to  reproduce  its  spirit  and 
institutions.  It  really  repudiated  only  the  later  tradition  in 
favor  of  the  older,  taking  its  stand  upon  the  primitive  historical 
basis  of  Christianity.  Then  again,*  in  the  course  of  controversy 
with  Eome,  Protestantism  found  it  desirable  and  necessary  to 
wrest  from  its  opponent  not  only  the  scriptural  argument,  but 
also  the  historical,  and  to  turn  it  as  far  as  possible  to  the  side  of 
the  evangelical  cause.  For  the  Protestants  could  never  deny 
that  the  true  church  of  Christ  is  built  on  a  rock,  and  has  the 
promise  of  indestructible  permanence.     Finally,  the  reformation. 


20  §    7.      LITERATURE   OF   CnURGH   HISTORY.  [gexeb. 

liberating  the  mind  from  the  yoke  of  a  despotic  ecclesiastical 
authority,  gave  an  entirely  new  impulse,  directly  or  indirectly, 
to  free  investigation  in  every  department,  and  produced  that 
liistorical  criticism,  which  claims  to  clear  fact  from  the  accretions 
of  fiction,  and  to  bring  out  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  no- 
thing but  the  truth,  of  history.  Of  course  this  criticism  may 
run  to  the  extreme  of  rationalism  and  scepticism,  which  oppose 
the  authority  of  the  apostles  and  of  Christ  himself;  as  it  actually 
did  for  a  time,  especially  in  Germany.  But  the  abuse  of  free 
investigation  proves  nothing  against  the  right  use  of  it ;  and  is  to 
be  regarded  only  as  a  temporary  aberration,  from  which  all 
sound  minds  will  return  to  a  due  appreciation  of  history,  as  a 
truly  rational  unfolding  of  the  plan  of  redemption,  and  a  stand- 
ing witness  for  the  all -ruling  providence  of  God,  and  the  divine 
character  of  the  Christian  religion. 

Protestant  church  historiography  has  thus  far  jBourished  most 
on  German  soil.     The  following  are  the  principal  works: 

Matthias  Flacius  (f  1575),  surnamed  Illyricus,  a  zealous 
Lutheran,  and  an  unsparing  enemy  of  Papists,  Calvinists,  and 
Melancthonians,  heads  the  list  of  Protestant  historians  with  his 
great  Ecclesiastica  historia  Novi  Testamenti^  commonly  called  Cen- 
turim  Magdeburgenses  (Basle,  1559-74),  covering  thirteen  cen- 
turies of  the  Christian  era  in  as  many  folio  volumes.  He  began 
the  work  in  Magdeburg,  in  connexion  with  ten  other  scholars  of 
like  spirit  and  zeal,  and  in  the  face  of  innumerable  difficulties,  for 
the  purpose  of  exposing  the  corruption  and  errors  of  the  papacy, 
and  of  proving  the  doctrines  of  the  Lutheran  reformation  orthodox 
by  the  "  witnesses  of  the  truth  "  in  all  ages.  The  tone  is  there- 
fore controversial  throughout,  and  quite  as  partial  as  the  Annals 
of  Baronius  on  the  papal  side.  The  style  is  tasteless  and 
repulsive,  but  the  amount  of  persevering  labor,  the  immense, 
though  ill-digested  and  unwieldy  mass  of  material,  and  the  bold- 
ness of  the  criticism,  are  imposing  and  astonishing.  The  "  Cen- 
turies "  broke  the  path  of  free  historical  study,  and  are  the  first 
church  history  deserving  of  the  name.  They  introduced  also  a 
new  method.     They  divide  the  material  by  centuries,  and  each 


INTROD.]  §   7.      LITERATURE   OF   CHURCH  HISTORY.  21 

century  by  a  uniform  Procrustean  scheme  of  not  less  than  six- 
teen rubrics :  de  loco  et  propagatione  ecclesiae ;  de  persecutione  et 
tranquillitate  ecclesiae ;  de  doctrina ;  de  baeresibus ;  de  cere- 
mo  nils  ;  de  politia ;  de  scbismatibus ;  de  conciliis  ;  de  vitis  episco- 
porum ;  de  baereticis ;  de  martyribus  ;  de  miraculis  et  prodigiis ; 
de  rebus  Judaicis ;  de  aliis  religionibus ;  de  mutationibus  poli- 
ticis.  This  plan  destroys  all  symmetry,  and  occasions  wearisome 
diffuseness  and  repetition.  Yet,  in  spite  of  its  mechanical  uni- 
formity and  stiifness,  it  is  more  scientific  than  the  annalistic  or 
chronicle  method,  and,  with  material  improvements  and  consider- 
able curtailment  of  rubrics,  it  has  been  followed  to  this  day. 

The  Swiss,  J.  H.  Hottinger  (f  1667),  in  his  Historia  ecclesias- 
tica  iV.  Testamenti  (Zurich,  1655-67,  9  vols,  fob),  furnished  a 
Reformed  counterpart  to  the  Magdeburg  Centuries.  It  is  less 
original  and  vigorous,  but  more  sober  and  moderate.  It  comes 
down  to  the  sixteenth  century,  to  which  alone  five  volumes  are 
devoted. 

The  Hollander,  Fred.  Spanheim's  (f  1649)  Summa  historiae 
ecclesiasticae  (Lugd.  Bat.  1689),  coming  down  to  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, is  based  on  a  thorough  and  critical  knowledge  of  the 
sources,  and  serves  at  the  same  time  as  a  refutation  of  Baronius. 

A  new  path  was  broken  by  GtOttfried  Arnold  (f  1714),  in 
his  Unpartheiische  Kirchen-  und  Ketzergeschichle  (Frankfurt,  1699 
sqq.,  4  vols,  fol.)  to  a.d.  1688.  He  is  the  historian  of  the  pietistic 
and  mystic  school.  He  made  subjective  piety  the  test  of  the  true 
faith,  and  the  persecuted  sects  the  main  channel  of  true  Chris- 
tianity ;  while  the  reigning  church  from  Constantine  down,  and 
indeed  not  the  Catholic  church  only,  but  the  orthodox  Lutheran 
with  it,  he  represented  as  a  progressive  apostasy,  a  Babylon  full 
of  corruption  and  abomination.  In  this  way  he  boldly  and  effec- 
tually broke  down  the  walls  of  ecclesiastical  exclusiveness  and 
bigotry ;  but  at  the  same  time,  without  intending  or  suspecting 
It,  he  opened  the  way  to  a  rationahstic  and  sceptical  treatment  of 
history.  "While,  in  his  zeal  for  impartiality  and  personal  piety, 
he  endeavored  to  do  justice  to  all  possible  heretics  and  sectaries, 
he  did  great  injustice  to  the  supporters  of  orthodoxy  and  eccle- 


22  §    7.      LITERATURE   OF   CHURCn   HISTORY.  [gexek. 

siastical  order.  Arnold  was  also  the  first  to  use  the  German  lan- 
guage instead  of  the  Latin  in  learned  history ;  but  his  style  is 
terribly  insipid. 

J.  L.  MosHEiM  (f  1755),  Chancellor  of  Gtittingen,  a  moderate' 
and  impartial  Lutheran,  is  the  father  of  church  historiography  as 
an  art^  unless  we  prefer  to  concede  this  merit  to  Bossuet.  In 
skilful  construction,  clear,  though  mechanical  and  monotonous 
arrangement,  critical  sagacit}',  pragmatic  combination,  freedom 
from  passion,  almost  bordering  on  cool  indifferentism,  and  in 
easy  elegance  of  Latin  style,  he  surpasses  all  his  predecessors. 
His  well  known  Insiitutiones  Mstoriae  ecdesiasticae  aniiquae  ei  re- 
centioris  (Helmstiidt,  1755)  follows  the  centurial  plan  of  Flacius, 
but  in  simpler  form,  and,  as  translated  by  Maclaine,  and  Murdock, 
remains  to  this  day  the  principal  test-book  of  church  history 
in  England  and  America. 

J.  M.  ScHRoCKH  (flSOS),  a  pupil  of  Mosheim,  but  already 
touched  with  the  neological  spirit  which  Semler  (f  1791)  in- 
troduced into  the  historical  theology  of  Germany,  wrote  with 
unwearied  industry  the  largest  Protestant  church  history  after 
the  Magdeburg  Centuries.  His  Chnsiliche  Kirchengeschichte  (Leip- 
zig, 1768-1810)  comprises  forty-five  volumes  (the  last  two  by 
Tzschirner),  coming  down  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
This  work,  written  in  diffuse  but  clear  and  easy  style,  with 
reliable  knowledge  of  sources,  and  in  a  mild,  impartial  spirit,  is 
still  a  rich  storehouse  of  historical  matter.  It  forsakes  the 
centurial  plan  and  adopts  the  periodic. 

The  very  learned  Insiitutiones  historiae  ecdesiasticae  V.  et  N. 
Tesiamenti  of  the  Dutch  Eeformed  divine  H.  Venema  (tl787), 
contain  the  history  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Church  down  to 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  (Lugd.  Bat.  1777-83,  in  seven 
parts). 

H.  P.  C.  Henke  (f  1809)  is  the  leading  representative  of  the 
rationalistic  church  historiography.  In  his  spirited  and  clever 
Allgemeine  Oeschichte  der  christliclien  Kirche,  continued  by  Vater 
(Braunschweig,  1788-1820,  9  vols.)  the  church  appears  not  as 
the  temple  of  God  on  earth,  but  as  a  great  infirmary  and  bedlam. 


IXTROD.]  §   7.      LITERATURE   OF   CHURCH   HISTORY.  23 

A.  Neander  (f  1850),  the  "father  of  modern  church  history," 
a  child  in  spirit,  a  man  in  intellect,  a  giant  in  learning,  and  a 
saint  in  piety,  led  back  the  study  of  history  from  the  dry  heath 
of  rationalism  to  the  fresh  fountain  of  divine  life  in  Christ  and 
his  people,  and  made  it  a  grand  source  of  edification  for  readers 
of  every  confession  and  denomination.  His  Allgemeine  GescJiichte 
der  Cliristlichen  Religion  und  Kirche  (Hamburg,  1825-52, 11  parts, 
to  the  council  of  Basil,  1430),  and  numerous  monographs,  are  dis- 
tinguished by  thorough  and  conscientious  use  of  the  sources, 
ingenious  combination,  tender  love  of  truth  and  righteousness, 
all-embracing  liberality,  hearty  evangelical  piety  in  living  union 
with  scientific  thought,  and  by  masterly  analysis  of  the  doctri- 
nal systems  and  the  subjective  Christian  life  of  men  of  God  in 
past  ages.  The  aesthetic  .  and  artistic  part,  and  the  political 
machinery  of  church  history  were  less  congenial  to  the  humble, 
guileless  simphcity  of  the  author,  and  are  therefore  not  treated 
by  him  to  the  satisfliction  of  the  advanced  student.  His  style 
is  monotonous,  involved,  and  diffuse,  but  unpretending,  natural, 
and  warmed  by  a  genial  glow  of  feeling.  Torrey's  excellent 
translation  (Rose  translated  only  the  first  three  centuries),  pub- 
lished in  Boston,  Edinburgh,  and  London,  in  multiplied  editions, 
has  given  Neander's  immortal  work  even  a  larger  circulation 
in  England  and  America  than  it  has  in  Germany  itself. 

From  J.  C.  L.  Gieseler  (f  185-4),  a  profoundly  learned,  acute, 
calm,  impartial,  conscientious,  but  cold  and  dry  historian,  we 
have  a  Lehrhuch  der  Kirchengeschichle  (Bonn,  1824-1856),  in 
several  volumes,  completed  posthumously  from  his  manuscripts ; 
likewise  translated  into  English,  first  by  Cunningham,  in  Phila- 
delphia, 1846,  then  by  Davidson  and  Hull,  in  England,  and  now 
carefully  revised  and  edited  by  H.  B.  Smith^  in  New  York 
(1857  sqq.).  He  takes  Tillemont's  method  of  giving  the  history 
in  the  very  words  of  the  sources ;  only  he  does  not  form  the 

1  The  author  of  the  best  tabular  view  of  church  history,  which  may  be  profitalily 
used  in  connexion  witli  Gieseler:  History  of  the  Christian  CMirch  in  Tabular  Form; 
in  15  Tables.     N.  York,  1858. 


24  §   7.      LITERATURE   OF  CHURCH  HISTORY.  [gkner. 

text  from  them,  but  throws  them  into  notes.  The  chief  excel- 
lence of  this  invaluable  and  indispensable  work  is  its  very  care- 
fully selected  and  critically  elucidated  extracts  from  the  original 
authorities.  The  skeleton-like  text  presents,  indeed,  the  leading 
facts  clearly  and  concisely,  but  does  not  reach  the  inward  life 
and  spiritual  marrow  of  the  church  of  Christ. 

Neander  and  Gieseler  matured  their  works  in  respectful  and 
friendly  rivalry,  during  the  same  period  of  thirty  years  of  slow, 
but  sohd  and  steady  growth,  without  being  permitted  to  finish 
them.  The  former  is  perfectly  subjective,  and  reproduces  the 
original  sources  in  a  continuous  warm  and  sympathetic  composi- 
tion, which  reflects  at  the  same  time  the  author's  own  mind  and 
heart ;  the  latter  is  purely  objective,  and  speaks  with  the  indif- 
ference of  an  outside  spectator,  through  the  ipsissima  verba  of  the 
same  sources,  arranged  as  notes,  and  strung  together  simply  by 
a  slender  thread  of  narrative.  The  one  gives  the  history  ready- 
made,  and  full  of  life  and  instruction ;  the  other  furnishes  the  mate- 
rial and  leaves  the  reader  to  animate  and  improve  it  for  himself. 
"With  the  one,  the  text  is  everything ;  with  the  other,  the  notes. 
But  both  admirably  complete  each  other,  and  exhibit  together 
the  ripest  fruit  of  German  scholarship  in  general  church  history 
in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Besides  these  larger  works,  Protestant  Germany  has  furnished 
since  1830,  a  gTcat  number  of  smaller  manuals  and  compends  of 
church  history,  of  which  the  most  valuable  and  popular  are  those 
of  NiEDNER  (1846),  Hase  (7th  ed.  185-4 ;  the  same  in  Enghsh,  by 
"Wing  &  Blumenthal,  New  York,  1855),  Guericke  (8th  ed. 
1858 ;  the  1st  vol.  translated  or  rather  transfused  into  English 
by  Shedd,  Andover,  1857),  Lindner  (1848),  Jacobi  (1850), 
Fricke  (1850),  Kurtz  (3rd  ed.  1853  sqq.).  It  would  be  impos- 
sible here  to  mention  the  countless  monographs  which  appeared 
during  the  same  period,  partly  from  the  school  of  Neander, 
partly  from  the  more  recent  one  of  the  equally  learned  and 
talented,  but  sceptical  Baur,  of  Tubingen,  partly  from  the  newly 
revived  school  of  orthodox  confessionalism. 

Among  modern   English   church   historians,  we   may  name 


IXTROD.]  §   7.      LITERATURE   OF  CHURCH  HISTORY.  25 

MiLNER  (f  1797),  wliose  work,  continued  by  Stebbing,  agrees 
most  in  its  spirit  with  tliat  of  Arnold  ;  less  learned  and  original, 
but  far  more  readable,  popular,  and  edifying ;  WADDiKGTOisr, 
who  gives  us  the  ancient  and  mediasval  church  in  three 
volumes,  and  the  continental  reformation  in  three  more  (1835  If.) ; 
FouLKES,  the  author  of  a  Manual  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  from 
the  first  to  the  twelfth  century  (1851) ;  Eobertson",  whose  his- 
tory embraces  thus  far  in  two  volumes  (1851:  and  '56)  the  first 
six  centuries,  and  the  middle  age,  till  1122 ;  Milman,  who  wrote 
a  history  of  ancient  Christianity  (1840),  and  of  Latin  Christianity 
to  the  pontificate  of  Nicholas  Y.  (1854  sq.  in  6  vols.) ;  and  Hard- 
wick,  fi:om  whom  we  have  a  Manual  on  the  middle  age  (1853), 
and  another  on  the  Keformation  (1856),  to  be  followed  by  a  third 
volume  on  the  first  six  centuries,  and  a  fourth  one  on  the  period 
since  the  Reformation.  Each  one  of  these  works  has  its  peculiar 
merit ;  but  none  of  them  can  be  ranked,  either  as  to  original 
research,  or  art  of  composition,  or  general  interest,  with  the 
immortal  masterpieces  of  English  literature  on  the  history  of 
Rome,  Greece,  and  Great  Britain. 

America  is  as  yet  more  engaged  in  making  history,  than  in 
writing  it.  Nevertheless  it  has  already  cultivated  several  con- 
genial portions  of  secular  history,  especially  that  of  Spain,  Hol- 
land, and  the  United  States,  with  eminent  talent  and  success. 
It  has  also  furnished  recently  the  best  translations  of  the  German 
standard  works  on  church  history,  and  thus  seriously  commenced 
to  direct  its  youthful  energies  to  the  holy  of  holies  in  the  history 
of  mankind.  This  justifies  the  expectation  of  original  works 
which  in  due  time  shall  review  and  reproduce  the  entire  course 
of  Christ's  kingdom  in  the  old  world  with  the  faith  and  freedom 
of  the  new. 


EIRST  PERIOD. 


THE 


CHURCH  UNDER   THE  APOSTLES: 


FROM  THE 


BIRTH  OF  CHRIST  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHK 
A.  D.  1-100. 


FIRST    PERIOD. 


THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH: 

FROM  THE   BIRTH   OF  CHRIST  TO  THE   DEATH   OF  ST.   JOHN, 
A.D.  1-100. 

SOURCES. 

The  canonical  books  of  the  New  Testament.  The  writings  of  the  early  church. 
Also  some  passages  of  Josephus,  the  Talmud,  and  heathen  authors. 
(Comp.  N.  Lardner  :  Collection  of  the  Jewish  and  Heathen  Testimonies 
of  the  Christian  ReUgion.     Lond.  1764  sqq.  4  vols.) 

LITERATURE. 

F.  BuDDEus:  Ecclesia  apostolica.     Jen.  1729.     Cave:  Lives  of  the  Apostles. 
1684  (new  ed.  Lond.  1841 ;  also  New  York,  1857).     Benson  :  History  of 
the  Planting  of  the  Christian  Religion.    Lond.  1756  (in  German  by  Bam- 
oerger,  Halle,   1768).     J.  J.  Hess  :    Geschichte  der  Apostel  Jesu.     Ziir. 
1788  (4th  ed.  1820).     Neander  :  Geschichte  der  Pflanzung  und  Leitung 
der  Kirche  durch  die  Apostel.     Hamb.  1832.     2  vols.    (4th  ed.  1847). 
The  same  in  Enghsh  by  Rylandj  Edinb. ;    reprinted  in  Philad.  1§44;,^ — .- 
H.  Thiersch  :  Die  Kirche  inoapostoiischien  Zeitalter.    Frankf.  1852.    TKe 
same  in  English  by  Th.  Carlyle.     Lond.  1852.     J.  P.  Lange  :  Das  apo- 
stolische  Zeitalter.  Braunschw.  1854.    2  vols.   P.  Schaff  :  Geschichte  der     /■ 
apostolischen  Kirche  (Mercersb.  1851),  2nd  ed.  Leipz.  1854.     The  same     j 
in  Enghsh  by  Yeomans,  N.  York,  1853,  and  Edinb.  1854 ;  also  in  Dutch     \ 
by  Lubhnk  Weddik,  1857.     Lechler:    Das  apostohsche  und  nachapo- 
stolische  Zeitalter.     2nd  ed.  Stuttg.  1857. 

Comp.  also  the  critical  works  on  the  Acts  of  Luke,  by  ScTinecJcenhurger,  1841, 
Zeller,  1854,  and  LeTcebusch,  1854 ;  and  the  commentaries  on  the  Acts, 
by  Baumgarien,  Halle,    1852,  2  vols.,    also  (in  English,  Edinb.  1856,      f 
3  vols.),  Jos.  Add.  Alexander,  K  York,  1857,  2  vols.,  and  H.  B.  Hackett,       ' 
2nd  ed.  Bost.  1858. 

On  the  chronology  of  the  Apostolic  age  comp.  Anger  :  De  temporum  in  Actis      f 
Apostol.  ratione.    Lips.  1833.    Wieselek  :  Chronologic  des  apostohschen 
Zeitalters.     Gott.  1848. 

§  8.   General  Character  of  the  Apostolic  Period. 
The  apostolic  period,  including  tlie  life  of  Jesus,  is  the  fountain- 


80  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

head  of  tlie  history  of  tlie  Christian  church.  Here  springs,  in  its 
original  freshness  and  purity,  the  living  water  of  the  new  crea- 
tion. Christianity  comes  down  from  heaven  as  a  supernatural 
fact,  yet  long  predicted  and  prepared  for,  and  adapted  to  the 
deepest  wants  of  human  nature.  Signs  and  wonders  and  extra- 
ordinary demonstrations  of  the  Spirit,  for  the  conversion  of 
unbelieving  Jews  and  heathens,  attend  its  entrance  into  the  world 
of  sin.  It  takes  up  its  permanent  abode  with  our  fallen  race,  to 
transform  it  gradually,  without  war  or  bloodshed,  by  a  quiet, 
leaven-like  process,  into  a  glorious  kingdom  of  truth  and  right- 
eousness. Modest  and  humble,  lowly  and  unseemly  in  outward 
appearance,  but  steadily  conscious  of  its  divine  origin  and  its 
eternal  destiny ;  without  silver  or  gold,  but  strong  in  faith,  fer- 
vent in  love,  and  joyful  in  hope,  full  of  supernatural  gifts  and 
powers ;  bearing  in  earthen  vessels  the  imperishable  treasures  of 
heaven,  it  presents  itself  upon  the  stage  of  history  as  the  only 
true,  the  perfect  religion,  for  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  At 
first  an  insignificant  and  even  contemptible  sect  in  the  eyes  of 
the  carnal  mind,  hated  and  persecuted  by  Jews  and  heathens,  it 
confounds  the  wisdom  of  Greece  and  the  power  of  Eome,  soon 
plants  the  standard  of  the  cross  in  the  great  cities  of  Asia,  Africa, 
and  Euroj)e,  and  proves  itself  the  hope  of  the  world. 

In  virtue  of  this  original  purity,  vigor,  and  beauty,  and  the 
amazing  success  of  primitive  Christianity,  the  canonical  authority 
of  the  single  but  inexhaustible  volume  of  its  literature,  and  the 
infallibility  of  the  apostles,  those  inspired  organs  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  those  untaught  teachers  of  mankind,  the  apostohc  age  has 
an  incomparable  interest  and  importance  in  the  history  of  the 
church.  It  is  the  immovable  groundwork  of  the  whole.  It 
has  the  same  regulative  force  for  all  the  subsequent  develop- 
ments of  the  church  as  the  inspired  writings  of  "the  apostles  have 
for  the  works  of  all  later  Christian  authors. 

Furthermore,  the  apostolic  Christianity  is  preformative,  con- 
taining the  living  germs  of  all  the  following  periods,  personages, 
and  tendencies.  The  whole  history  of  the  church,  past  and 
future,  is  only  the  progressive  analysis  and  application  of  prin- 


§  8.   GENERAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  PERIOD.        31 

ciples  and  prototjrpes  given  in  tHe  New  Testament ;  especially 
of  the  three  leading  representatives  of  the  primitive  age,  Peter, 
Paul,  and  Jolm. 

These  apostles  mark  also  the  three  principal  steps  in  the  mis- 
sionary and  doctrinal  history  of  the  first  period.  Peter  repre- 
sents Jewish  Christianity ;  Paul,  Gentile  Christianity ;  John,  the 
union  of  the  two. 

But  to  see  clearly  the  relation  of  the  Christian  religion  to  the 
preceding  history  of  mankind,  and  to  appreciate  its  vast  influ- 
ence, we  must  first  glance  at  the  preparation  which  existed  in 
the  moral  and  religious  condition  of  the  world  for  the  incarna- 
tion of  the  Son  of  God. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

PKEPARATION   FOE  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  HISTORY   OF  THE 
JEWISH  AND  HEATHEN  WORLD. 

MosHEiM :  Historical  Commentaries  on  the  State  of  Christianity  in  the  first 
three  centuries,  1753,  transl.  by  Vidal  and  Murdock,  vol.  i.  oh.  1  and  2 
(p.  9-82).  Neander:  AUg.  Gesch.  der  christl  Rel.  und  K.  vol.  i.  1842. 
Einl.  (p.  1-116).  Schaff:  Hist,  of  the  Apostolic  Ch.,  p.  137-188  (Engl, 
trsl.).  J.  P.  Lange:  Das  Apost.  Zeitalter.  1853,  I.  p.  224-318.  Bol- 
linger (R.  C.) :  Heidenthum  und  Judenthum.  Vorhalle  zur  Geschichte 
des  Christenthums.     Regensb.  1857. 

§  9.   Central  Position  of  Christ  in  the  History  of  the  World. 

As  religion  is  the  deepest  and  holiest  concern  of  man,  the 
entrance  of  the  Christian  religion  into  histor}^  is  the  most  mo- 
mentous of  all  events.  It  is  the  end  of  the  old  world  and  the 
beginning  of  the  new.  It  was  a  great  idea  of  Dionjsius  "  the 
Little,"  to  date  our  era  from  the  birth  of  the  Saviour,  Jesus 
Christ,  the  God-man,  the  prophet,  priest,  and  king  of  mankind, 
is,  in  fact,  the  centre  and  turning-point  not  only  of  chronology, 
but  of  all  history,  and  the  key  to  all  its  mysteries.  Around 
him,  as  the  sun  of  the  moral  universe,  revolve  at  their  several 
distances,  all  nations  and  all  really  important  events,  especially 
in  the  religious  life  of  the  world ;  and  all  must,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, consciously  or  unconsciously,  contribute  to  glorify  his 
name  and  advance  his  cause.  All  history  before  his  birth  must 
be  viewed  as  a  preparation  for  his  coming,  and  all  history  after 
his  birth  as  a  gradual  diffusion  of  his  Spirit  and  cstabh.'^hmcnt 
of  his  kingdom.  "All  things  were  created  by  him,  and  for 
him."^     He  is  "  the  desire  of  all  nations."^    He  appeared  in  the 

*  Col.  i.  16.  •  Hag.  ii.  7. 


§    9.      CENTRAL  rOSITIOX  OF  CIIPJST  IN  HISTORY.  33 

"fulness  of  time,"^  wlien  tlie  process  of  preparation  was  finisTied, 
and  the  world's  need  of  redemption  fully  disclosed. 

This  preparation  for  Christianity  began  properly  with  the  very 
creation  of  man,  who  was  made  in  the  image  of  Grod,  and  des- 
tined for  communion  with  him  through  the  eternal  Son ;  with 
those  common  primordial  revelations,  which  were  made  even  to 
the  antediluvian  fathers,  and  of  which  some  vague  memories 
survive  in  the  heathen  religions. 

With  Abraham,  some  two  thousand  years  before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  the  religious  development  of  humanity  separates  into  the 
two  independent,  and,  in  their  compass,  very  unequal  branches 
of  Judaism  and  heathenism.  These  meet  and  unite  at  last  in 
Christ  as  the  common  Saviour,  the  fulfiUer  of  all  the  types  and 
prophecies,  desires  and  hopes  of  the  ancient  world,  while  at  the 
same  time  all  the  ungodly  elements  of  both  league  in  deadly 
hostility  against  him,  and  thus  draw  forth  the  full  revelation  of' 
his  all-conquering  power  of  truth  and  love. 

As  Christianity  is  the  reconciliation  and  union  of  God  and 
man  in  and  through  Jesus  Christ,  the  God-man  and  Saviour,  it 
must  have  been  preceded  by  a  twofold  process  of  preparation,  an 
approach  of  God  to  man,  and  an  approach  of  man  to  God.  In 
Judaism  the  preparation  is  direct  and  positive,  proceeding  from 
above  downwards,  and  ending  with  the  birth  of  the  Messiah. 
In  heathenism  it  is  indirect  and  mainly,  though  not  entirely, 
negative,  proceeding  from  below  upwards,  and  ending,  with  a 
helpless  cry  of  mankind  for  redemption.  There  we  have  a  spe- 
cial revelation  or  self-communication  of  the  only  true  God  by 
word  and  deed,  ever  growing  clearer  and  plainer,  till  at  last  the 
divine  nature  appears  in  the  human,  to  raise  it  to  communion 
with  itself;  here  man,  guided  indeed  by  the  general  providence 
of  God,  and  lighted  by  the  glimmer  of  the  Logos  shining  in  the 
darkness,^  yet  unaided  by  direct  revelation,  and  left  to  his  own 
ways,^  "  if  haply  he  might  feel  after  the  Lord  and  find  him."* 
In  Judaism  the  true  religion  is  prepared  for  man ;  in  heathenism 

»  Mark  i.  15,  Gal.  iv.  4.  =  Johu  L  5.  '  Acts  xiv.  16.  *  Acts  xvii  26,  27. 

3 


34  FIRST   PERIOD.    A.D.    1-100. 

man  is  prepared  for  the  true  religion.  There  the  divine  sub- 
stance is  begotten ;  here  the  human  forms  are  moulded  to  receive 
it.  The  former  is  like  the  elder  son  in  the  parable,  who  abode 
in  his  father's  house ;  the  latter,  like  the  prodigal,  who  squan- 
dered his  portion,  yet  at  last  shuddered,  before  the  gaping  abyss 
of  perdition,  and  penitently  returned  to  the  bosom  of  his  father's 
compassionate  love.^  Heathenism  is  the  starry  night,  full  of 
darkness  and  fear,  but  of  mysterious  presage  also,  and  of  anxious 
waiting  for  the  light  of  day ;  Judaism,  the  dawn,  full  of  the  fresh 
hope  and  promise  of  the  rising  sun ;  both  lose  themselves  in  the 
sunlight  of  Christianity,  and  attest  its  claim  to  be  the  only  true 
and  the  perfect  religion  for  mankind. 

This  process  of  preparation  for  redemption  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  the  groping  of  heathenism  after  the  "unknown  God"^ 
and  inward  peace,  and  the  legal  struggle  and  comforting  hope  of 
Judaism,  repeat  themselves  substantially  in  every  individual 
believer ;  for  every  man  is  made  for  Christ,  and  his  heart  is 
restless,  till  it  rests  in  him. 

§  10.  Judaism. 

The  canonical  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  The  Jewish  Apocry- 
pha. The  writings  of  the  Jewish  historian  Josephus,  and  the  Alexandrian, 
PniLO,  and  the  Talmud. — Of  service  to  illustrate  and  confirm  the  Jewisli 
history  before  Christ  are  also  heathen  remains,  especially  the  monu- 
ments of  ancient  Egypt,  better  known  since  the  French  expedition,  and 
elucidated  by  the  researches  of  Champollion,  Rosellini,  Wilkinson,  Tay- 
lor, Lepsius,  Bunsen,  Seyfiarth,  and  others;  and  tl>e  very  remarkable 
monuments  from  Assyria,  discovered  by  the  excavations  of  Botta  and 
Layard,  and  transported  to  Paris  and  London.  The  fragments  of  Phoe- 
nician and  Chaldaic  writers,  on  the  contrary,  yield  little  information ;  and 
the  occasional  accounts  of  the  later  Greek  and  Roman  authors  concerning 
the  Jews  are  full  of  error  and  bitter  prejudice. 

Prideaux:  Old  and  New  Testaments  Connected  in  the  Ilistory  of  the  Jews 
and  neighboring  nations,  from  the  decline  of  the  kingdoms  of  Israel  and 
Judah  to  the  time  of  Christ.  Lend.  1715,  2  vols.  (1858  and  many  other 
eds.).  The  same  in  French  and  Grerraan.  Hess:  Geschichte  der 
Israchtcn  vor  den  Zciten  Jesu.  Ziir.  17GG  sqq.  12  vols.  Warburton: 
Divine  Legation  of  J^Ioscs  demonstrated.     6  vols.     Lond.  1788;  best 

*  Luke  XV.  11-32.  '  Acts  xvii.  23. 


§  10.      JUDAISM.  35 

edit,  by  Rich.  Hurd,  in  3  vols.  Lond.  1856.  Jost  :  Allgem.  Geschichte 
des  Israelitischen  Volkes  bis  in  die  neuste  Zeit.  Bed.  1832.  2  vols. 
Milman:  History  of  the  Jews.  Lond.  1829.  3  vols,  republ.  N.York, 
1831.  3  vols.  J.  C.  K.  HoFMANN :  Weissagung  und  Erfiillung.  Nordl. 
1841.  2  vols.  H.  EwALD :  G-eschichte  des  Volkes  Israel  bis  Christus. 
Grott.  1843  sqq.  4  vols.  J.  H.  Kurtz  :  Geschichte  des  alten  Bundes. 
Berl.  1853  sqq.  2  vols.  The  same:  Lehrbuch  der  heiL  G-eschichte. 
Konigsb.  6th  ed.  1853 ;  also  in  Enghsh,  by  C.  F.  Schafler.  Phil.  1855. 
A.  Alexander:  A  History  of  the  IsraeUtish  Nation  from  their  origin  to 
their  dispersion  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  Phil.  1853.  E.  C. 
Wines  :  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  the  Ancient  Hebrews.  N.  York, 
1855.  J.  M.  Jost:  Geschichte  des  Judenthums  und  semer  Serten. 
Leipz.  1857  sq.     3  vols. 


"  Salvation  is  of  the  Jews."^  This  wonderfal  people  was 
chosen  by  sovereign  grace  to  stand  amidst  the  surrounding 
idolatry  as  the  bearer  of  the  knowledge  of  Jehovah,  the  only 
true  God,  of  liis  holy  law,  and  of  his  comforting  promise,  and 
thus  to  become  the  cradle  of  the  Messiah.  It  arose  with  the 
calling  of  Abraham,  and  the  covenant  of  Jehovah  with  him  in 
Canaan,  the  land  of  promise ;  grew  to  a  nation  in  Egypt,  the  land 
of  bondage ;  was  delivered  and  organized  into  a  theocratic  state 
on  the  basis  of  the  law  of  Sinai  by  Moses  in  the  wilderness ;  was 
led  back  into  Palestine  by  Joshua ;  became,  after  the  Judges,  a 
monarchy,  reaching  the  height  of  its  glory  in  David  and  Solo- 
mon, the  types  of  the  victorious  and  peaceful  reign  of  Christ ; 
split  into  two  hostile  kingdoms,  and,  in  punishment  of  internal 
discord  and  growing  apostasy  to  idolatry,  was  carried  captive  by 
heathen  conquerors  ;  was  restored  after  seventy  years'  humilia- 
tion to  the  land  of  its  fathers,  but  fell  again  under  the  yoke  of 
heathen  foes ;  yet  in  its  deepest  abasement  fulfilled  its  highest 
mission  by  giving  birth  to  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

Judaism  was  amongst  the  idolatrous  nations  of  antiquity  like 
an  oasis  in  a  desert,  clearly  defined  and  isolated ;  separated  and 
enclosed  by  a  rigid  moral  and  ceremonial  law.  The  holy  land 
itself,  though  in  the  midst  of  the  three  grand  divisions  of  the 
ancient  world,  and  surrounded  by  the  great  nations  of  ancient 

»  1  John  iv.  22. 


36  FIEST  PERIOD.   A.D.    1-100, 

culture,  was  separated  from  them  by  deserts  south  and  east,  by 
sea  on  the  west,  and  by  mountain  on  the  north ;  thus  securing  to 
the  Mosaic  religion  freedom  to  unfold  itself  and  to  fulfil  its  gTeat 
work  without  disturbing  influences  from  abroad.  But  Israel 
carried  in  its  bosom  from  the  first  the  large  promise,  that  in 
Abraham's  seed  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed. 
Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful,  Moses,  the  lawgiver,  David, 
the  victorious  king  and  sacred  psalmist,  Isaiah,  the  evangelist 
of  the  prophets,  and  John  the  Baptist,  the  impersonation  of  the 
whole  Old  Testament,  are  the  most  conspicuous  links,  in  the 
golden  chain  of  the  ancient  revelation. 

The  outward  circumstances  and  the  moral  and  religious  condi- 
tion of  the  Jews  at  the  birth  of  Christ  would  indeed  seem  at  first 
and  on  the  whole  to  be  in  glaring  contradiction  with  their  divine 
destiny.  But,  in  the  first  place,  their  very  degeneracy  proved 
the  need  of  divine  help.  In  the  second  place,  the  redemption 
through  Christ  appeared  by  contrast  in  the  greater  glor^'-,  as  a 
creative  act  of  God.  And  finally,  amidst  the  mass  of  con'ujjtion, 
as  a  preventive  of  putrefaction,  lived  the  succession  of  the  true 
children  of  Abraham,  longing  for  the  salvation  of  Israel,  and 
ready  to  embrace  Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  the  promised  Messiah 
and  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

Since  the  battle  of  Philippi  (B.  C.  42),  the  Jews  had  been  sub- 
ject to  the  heathen  Eomans,  who  heartlessly  governed  them  by 
the  Idumean  Herod  and  his  sons,  and  afterwards  by  procura* 
tors.  Under  this  hated  yoke  their  Messianic  hopes  were  power- 
fully raised,  but  carnally  distorted.  They  longed  chiefly  for  a 
political  delivei-cr,  who  should  restore  the  temporal  dominion  of 
David  on  a  still  more  splendid  scale ;  and  they  were  offended 
with  the  servant  form  of  Jesus,  and  A\ith  his  spiritual  kingdom. 
Their  morals  were  outwardly  far  better  than  those  of  the  heathen ; 
but  under  the  garb  of  strict  obedience  to  their  law,  they  con- 
cealed great  corruption.  They  are  pictured  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment as  a  stiff-necked,  ungrateful,  and  impenitent  race,  the  seed 
of  the  serpent,  a  generation  of  vij)crs.  Their  own  priest  and  his- 
torian, Josephus,  who  generally  endeavored. to  present  his  coun- 


§   10.     JUDAISM.  37 

trymen  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans  in  the  most  favorable  light, 
describes  them  as  at  that  time  a  debased  and  ungodly  people, 
well  deserving  their  fearful  punishment  in  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem. 

As  to  religion,  the  Jews,  especially  after  the  Babylonish  cap- 
tivity, adhered  most  tenaciously  to  the  letter  of  the  law,  and  to 
their  traditions  and  ceremonies,  but  without  knowing  the  spirit 
and  power  of  the  Scriptures.  They  cherished  the  most  bigoted 
horror  of  the  heathen,  and  were  therefore  despised  and  hated  by 
them  as  misanthropic,  though  by  their  judgment,  industrj^,  and 
tact,  they  were  able  to  gain  wealth  and  consideration  in  all  the 
larger  cities  of  the  Roman  empire.  After  the  time  of  the  Mac- 
cabees (B.  C.  150),  they  fell  into  three  mutually  hostile  sects. 

1.  The  Pharisees,  the  "separate,"^  were,  so  to  speak,  the 
Jewish  Stoics.  They  represented  the  traditional  orthodoxy  and 
stiff  formalism,  the  legal  self-righteousness  and  the  fanatical 
bigotry  of  Judaism.  In  the  New  Testament  they  bear  particu- 
larly the  reproach  of  hypocrisy;  with,  of  course,  illustrious 
exceptions,  like  ISTicodemus,  Gamaliel,  and  his  disciple,  Paul, 

2.  The  less  numerous  Sadducees^  were  sceptical,  rationalistic, 
and  worldly-minded,  and  held  about  the  same  position  in  Judaism 
as  the  Epicureans  and  the  followers  of  the  New  Academy  in 
Greek  and  Roman  heathendom. 

8.  The  Essenes^  were  a  mystic,  ascetic  sect,  and  lived  in 
monkish  seclusion  on  the  coasts  of  the  Dead  Sea.  With  an 
arbitrary,  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament,  they 
combined  some  foreign  theosophic  elements,  which  they  borrowed 
partly  from  the  Pythagorean  and  the  Platonic  philosoj)hies,  and 
partly  from  the  eastern  religions. 

The  sect  of  the  Essenes  comes  seldom  or  never  into  contact 

'  From   taiS      They  were  separated  from  ordinary  persons  by  the  suppcsed  cor- 

— r  * 

rectness  of  their  creed  and  the  superior  hohness  of  their  Hfe. 

2  So  called  either  from  their  supposed  founder,  Zadoek,  or  from  pi^S    "just." 

3  From  h05^  "physician;"  according  to  some,  a  corruption  of  Diiion  oVioi, 
the  "holy;"  but  most  probably  from  the  rabbinical  >]^)-I)   "watchman,"  "keeper;" 

T  - 

COmp.  ^spanevrai. 


38  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.    1-100. 

■vrith  Christianitj  under  the  AjDOstles.  But  tlie  Phansces  and 
Sadducees,  particularly  the  former,  meet  us  everywhere  in  the' 
Gospels  as  bitter  enemies  of  Jesus,  and  hostile  as  they  are  to  each- 
other,  unite  in  condemning  him  to  that  death  of  the  cross,  which 
ended  in  the  glorious  resurrection,  and  became  the  foundation  of 
spiritual  life  to  beheving  Grentiles  as  well  as  Jews. 

§  11.  The  Law  and  Prophecy. 

Degenerate  and  corrupt  though  the  mass  of  Judaism  was,  yet 
the  Old  Testament  economy  was  the  divine  institution  preparatory 
to  the  Christian  redemption,  and  as  such  received  deepest  reve- 
rence from  Christ  and  his  apostles,  while  they  sought  by  terrible 
rebuke  to  lead  its  unworthy  representatives  to  repentance.  It 
therefore  could  not  fail  of  its  saving  effect  on  those  hearts  which 
3'ielded  to  its  discipline,  and  conscientiously  searched  the 
Scriptures  of  Moses  and  the  prophets. 

Law  and  prophecy  are  the  two  great  elements  of  the  Jewish 
religion,  and  make  it  a  direct  divine  introduction  to  Christianity, 
"  the  voice  of  him  that  crieth  in  the  wilderness,  Prej^are  ye  the 
way  of  the  Lord ;  make  straight  in  the  desert  a  highway  for  our 
God." 

1.  The  law  of  Moses  was  the  clearest  expression  of  the  holy 
will  of  God  before  the  advent  of  Christ.  It  set  forth  the  ideal 
of  righteousness,  and  was  thus  fitted  most  effectually  to  awaken 
the  sense  of  man's  great  departure  from  it,  the  knowledge  of  sin 
and  guilt.^  It  acted  as  a  schoolmaster  to  lead  men  to  Christ^  that 
they  might  be  justified  by  faith.^ 

The  same  sense  of  guilt  and  of  the  need  of  reconciliation  was 
constantly  kept  alive  by  daily  sacrifices,  at  first  in  the  tabernacle 
and  afterwards  in  the  temj^le,  and  by  the  whole  ceremonial  law, 
which,  as  a  wonderful  system  of  types  and  shadows,  perpetually 
pointed  to  the  realities  of  the  new  covenant,  especially  to  the 
one  all-sufficient  atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ  on  the  cross. 

But  now  God  requires  absolute  obedience  and  purity  of  heart 

'   Rom.  ilL  20:  Afi  ni^ow  c-iyvtoo-ij  afiapna;. 

2  Ylatijyojyus  tij  XpicrriJc,  ^  Gal.  iii.  24. 


§    11.      THE    LAW   AXD   PROPHECY.  39 

under  promise  of  life  and  penalty  of  death.  Yet  he  cannot 
cruelly  sport  with  man ;  he  is  the  truthful,  faithful,  and  merciful 
God.  In  the  moral  and  ritual  law,  therefore,  as  in  a  shell,  is 
hidden  the  sweet  kernel  of  a  promise,  that  he  will  one  day  exhi- 
bit the  ideal  of  righteousness  in  living  form,  and  give  the  mise- 
rable sinner  power  to  fulfil  the  law.  Without  such  assurance 
the  law  were  bitter  irony. 

As  regards  the  law,  the  Jewish  economy  was  a  religion  of       /. 
repentance. 

2.  But  it  was  at  the  same  time,  as  already  hinted,  the  vehicle    f 
of  the  divine  promise  of  redemption,  and,  as  such,  a  religion  of     ) 
hope.     While  the  Greeks  and  Eomans  put  their  golden  age  in     ^ 
the  past,  the  Jews  looked  for  theirs  in  the  future.     Their  whole     ' 
history,  their  religious,  political,  and  social  institutions  and  cus- 
toms pointed  to  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  and  the  establishment 
of  his  kingdom  on  earth. 

Prophecy,  or  the  gospel  under  the  covenant  of  the  law,  is  really 
older  than  the  law,  which  "  came  in  between  "  the  promise  and 
its  fulfilment.^  It  begins  with  the  promise  of  the  serpent-bruiser 
immediately  after  the  fall.  It  predominates  in  the  patriarchal 
age,  and  Moses,  the  lawgiver,  was  at  the  same  time  a  prophet 
pointing  the  people  to  a  greater  successor.-  Without  the 
comfort  of  the  Messianic  promise,  the  law  must  have  driven  the 
earnest  soul  to  despair.  From  the  time  of  Samuel,  some  eleven 
centuries  before  Christ,  prophecy,  hitherto  sporadic,  took  an 
organized  form  in  a  permanent  proj)hetical  ofiice  and  order.  In 
this  form  it  accompanied  the  Levitical  priesthood  and  the  Davidic 
dynasty  down  to  the  Babylonish  captivity,  survived  this  cata- 
strophe, and  directed  the  return  of  the  people  and  the  rebuilding 
of  the  temple;  interpreting  and  applying  the  law,  reproving 
abuses  in  church  and  state,  predicting  the  terrible  judgments  and 
the  redeeming  grace  of  God,  warning  and  punishing,  comforting 
and  encouraging,  with  an  ever  plainer  reference  to  the  coming- 
Messiah,  who  should  redeem  Israel  and  the  world  from  sin  and 

^  nao£icrfl>^£i/,  Rom.  V.  20;  comp.  Gal.  iiL  19.  -Beiit.  xviii.  15. 


40  FIRST  PERIOD,   A.D.   1-100. 

miseiy,  and  establish,  a  kingdom  of  peace  and  righteousness  on 
earth. 

The  victorious  reign  of  David  and  the  peaceful  reign  of  Solo- 
mon furnish,  for  Isaiah  and  his  successors,  the  historical  ground  for 
a  prophetic  picture  oi"  a  far  more  glorious  future,  which,  unless 
thus  attached  to  living  memories  and  present  circumstances,  could 
not  have  been  understood.  The  subsequent  catastrophe  and  the 
sufferings  of  the  captivity  served  to  devclope  the  idea  of  a  Mes- 
siah atoning  for  the  sins  of  the  people  and  entering  through  suf- 
fering into  glory. 

The  prophetic  was  an  extraordinary  ofiice,  serving  partly  to 
complete,  partly  to  correct  tke  ordinary,  hereditary  priesthood,  to 
prevent  it  from  stiffening  into  monotonous  formality,  and  keep  it 
^  in  living  flow.  The  prophets  were,  so  to  speak,  the  Protestants 
of  the  ancient  covenant,  the  ministers  of  the  s})irit  and  of  imme- 
diate communion  with  God,  in  distinction  from  'the  ministers  of 
the  letter  and  of  traditional  and  ceremonial  mediation. 

The  flourishing  period  of  our  canonical  prophecy  began  with 
the  eighth  century  before  Christ,  some  seven  centuries  after 
Moses,  when  Israel  was  suffering  under  Assyrian  oppression.  In 
this  period  before  the  captivity,  Isaiah  ("the  salvation  of  God ")> 
who  appeared  in  the  last  years  of  king  Uzziah,  about  ten  years 
before  the  founding  of  Rome,  is  the  leading  figure  ;  and  around 
Hm  Micah,  Joel,  and  Obadiah  in  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  and 
Hosea,  Amos,  and  Jonah  in  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  are  grouped. 
In  the  period  of  the  Babylonian  exile,  Jeremiah  (i.  e.  "  the  Lord 
casts  down")  stands  chief.  He  remained  in  the  land  of  his 
fathers,  and  sang  his  lamentation  in  holy  sorrow  on  the  ruins  of 
Jerusalem  ;  while  Ezekiel  warned  the  exiles  on  the  river  Chebar 
against  false  prophets  and  carnal  hopes,  urged  them  to  repentance, 
and  depicted  the  new  Jerusalem  and  the  revival  of  the  dry  bones 
of  the  people  by  the  breath  of  God  ;  and  Daniel  at  the  court  of 
Kebuchadnczzar  in  Babylon  saw  in  the  spirit  the  succession  of 
the  four  empires  and  the  final  triuin[)h  of  the  eternal  kingdom  of 
the  Son  of  Man.  Tlic  prophets  of  the  restoration  are  Haggai, 
Zechariah,  and  Malaclii.     With  Malachi,  who  lived  to  the  time  of 

^ii^-c  Z^/utu  ^U^"-^ /^ftAJ^^ 


§   11.      THE   LAW  AND   PROPHECY.  41 

Neliemiah,  the  Old  Testament  prophecy  ceased,  and  Israel  was 
left  to  himself  four  hundred  years,  to  digest  during  this  period 
of  expectation  the  rich  substance  of  that  revelation,  and  to  pre- 
pare the  birth-place  for  the  approaching  redemption. 

3.  But  immediately  before  the  advent  of  the  Messiah  the 
whole  Old  Testament,  the  law  and  the  prophets,  Moses  and 
Isaiah  together,  reappeared  for  a  moment  embodied  in  John  the 
Baptist,  and  then  in  unrivalled  humility  disappeared  as  the  red 
dawn  in  the  splendor  of  the  rising  sun  of  the  new  covenant. 
This  remarkable  man,  earnestly  preaching  repentance  in  the 
wilderness  and  laying  the  axe  at  the  root  of  the  tree,  and  at  the 
same  time  comforting  with  prophecy  and  pointing  to  the  atoning 
Lamb  of  God,  was  indeed,  as  the  immediate  forerunner  of  the 
New  Testament  economy,  and  the  personal  friend  of  the  heavenly 
Bridegroom,  the  greatest  of  them  that  were  born  of  women  ;  yet 
in  his  official  character  as  the  representative  of  the  ancient  prepa- 
ratory economy  he  stands  lower  than  the  least  in  that  kingdom 
of  Christ,  which  is  infinitely  more  glorious  than  all  its  types  and 
shadows  in  the  past. 

This  is  the  Jewish  religion,  as  it  flowed  from  the  fountain  of 
divine  revelation  and  lived  in  the  true  Israel,  the  spiritual  children 
of  Abraham,  in  John  the  Baptist,  his  parents  and  disciples,  in  the 
mother  of  Jesus,  her  kindred  and  friends,  in  the  venerable 
Simeon,  and  the  prophetess  Anna,  in  Lazarus  and  his  pious  sis- 
ters, in  the  apostles  and  the  first  disciples,  who  embraced  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  as  the  fulfiUer  of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  the  Son 
of  Grod  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  who  were  the  first 
fruits  of  the  Christian  church. 


§  12.  Heathenism. 

I.  The  works  of  the  G-reek  and  Roman  classics. 

II.  St.  Augustine  :  De  civitate  Dei ;  the  first  ten  books.  Is.  Vossius :  De  the- 
ologia  gentili  et  pliysiolo.  Christ.  Frcf.  1675.  2  vols.  Creuzer:  Sym- 
bolik  und  Mythologie  der  alten  Volker.     Leipz.  3rd  ed.  1837  sqq.  3  vols. 


42  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

0.  MuLLER :  Prolegomena  zu  einer  wissenschaftl.  Mythologie.  Giitt. 
1825.  Hegel  :  Philosophie  der  Religion.  Bed.  1837.  2  vols.  Stuiir  : 
Allgem.  Gesch.  der  Eeligionsformen  der  heidnischen  Yolker.  BerL 
1836.  Hartung  :  Die  Religion  der  RiJmer.  Erl.  1836.  2  vols.  Nagels- 
bach:  Homerische  Theologie.  Niirnb.  1840.  The  same:  Die  nacli 
homerische  Theologie  des  Griechischen  Volksglaubens  bis  auf  Alexan- 
der. Ntirnb.  1857.  Sepp  (R.  C.)  :  Das  Heidenthum  und  dessen  Bedeu- 
tung  filr  das  Christenthum.  Regensb.  1853.  3  vols.  Wuttke  :  Ge- 
schichte  des  Heidenthums  in  Beziehung  auf  Religion,  Wissen,  Kunst, 
Sittlichkeit  und  Staatsleben.  Bresl.  1852  sqq.  Scuelling:  Einleitung 
in  die  Philosophie  der  Mythologie.  Stuttg.  1856,  and  Philosophie  der 
Mythologie.  Stuttg.  1857.  Maurice:  The  Religions  of  the  World  in 
their  Relations  to  Christianity.  Lond.  1854  (reprinted  in  Boston). 
Trench  :  Hulsean  Lectures  for  1845-6.  No.  2 :  Christ  the  Desire  of  all 
Nations,  or  the  Unconscious  Prophecies  of  Heathendom  (a  commentary 
on  the  star  of  the  wise  men,  Matt.  ii.).  Cambr.  4th  ed.  1854  (also  Philad. 
1850).  Comp.  also  Niebuhr's  Rumische  Geschichte,  and  Grote's  His- 
tory of  Greece. 

Heathenism  is  religion  in  its  wild  growth  on  the  soil  of 
fallen  human  nature,  a  darkening  of  the  original  consciousness 
of  God,  a  deification  of  the  rational  and  irrational  creature,  and  a 
corresponding  corruption  of  the  moral  sense,  giving  the  sanction 
of  religion  to  natural  and  unnatural  vices.^ 

Even  the  religion  of  Greece,  which,  as  an  artistic  product  of 
the  imagination,  has  been  justly  styled  the  religion  of  beauty,  is 
deformed  by  this  moral  distortion.  It  utterly  lacks  the  true 
concej^tion  of  sin,  and  consequently  the  true  conception  of  hoh- 
ness.  It  regards  sin,  not  as  a  perverseness  of  wiU  and  an  offence 
against  the  gods,  but  as  a  folly  of  the  understanding  and  an 
offence  against  men,  often  even  proceeding  from  the  gods  them- 
selves; for  " infiituation "  is  a  ''daughter  of  Jove."  Then  these 
gods  themselves  are  mere  men,  in  whom  Homer  and  the  popular 
faith  saw  and  worshipped  the  weaknesses  and  vices  of  the  Gre- 
cian character,  as  well  as  its  virtues,  in  immensely  magnified 
forms.  They  have  bodies  and  senses,  like  mortals,  only  in 
colossal  proportions.  They  eat  and  drink,  though  only  nectar 
and  ambrosia.  They  are  limited,  like  men,  to  time  and  '■.pace. 
Though  sometimes  honored  with  the  attributes  of  omnipotence 

*  Comp.  Rom.  i.  19  sqq. 


§  12.    heathenism:.  43 

and  omniseience,  yet  tliey  are  subject  to  an  iron  fate,  fall  under 
delusion,  and  reproacli  each  other  with  folly.  Their  heavenly 
happiness  is  disturbed  by  all  the  troubles  of  earthly  life.  Jupiter 
threatens  his  fellows  with  blows  and  death,  and  makes  Olympus 
tremble,  when  he  shakes  his  locks  in  anger.  The  gentle  Venus 
bleeds  from  a  spear- wound  on  her  finger.  Mars  is  felled  with 
a  stone  by  Diomedes.  Neptune  and  Apollo  have  to  serve  for 
hire  and  are  cheated.  The  gods  are  involved  by  their  mar- 
riages in  perpetual  jealousies  and  quarrels.  Though  called  holy 
and  just,  they  are  full  of  envy  and  wrath,  hatred  and  lust, 
and  provoke  each  other  to  lying  and  cruelty,  perjury  and  adul- 
tery. Truly  we  have  no  cause  to  long  with  Schiller  for  the 
return  of  the  "gods  of  Greece,"  but  would  rather  join  the  poet 
in  his  joyful  thanksgiving : 

"  Einen  zu  bereichern  unter  alien, 
Musste  diese  Gutterwelt  vergehn." 

Notwithstanding  this  essential  apostasy  from  truth  and  hoh- " 
ness,  heathenism  was  religion,  a  groping  after  "the  unknown 
Grod."*  By  its  superstition  it  betrayed  the  need  of  faith.  Its 
polytheism  rested  on  a  dim  monotheistic  background;  it  sub- 
jected all  the  gods  to  Jupiter,  and  Jupiter  himself  to  a  mysteri- 
ous fate.  It  had  at  bottom  the  feeling  of  dependence  on  higher 
powers  and  reverence  for  divine  things.  It  preserved  the 
memory  of  a  golden  age  and  of  a  fall.  It  had  the  voice  of  con- 
science, and  a  sense,  obscure  though  it  was,  of  guilt.  It  felt  the 
need  of  reconciliation  with  deity,  and  sought  that  reconciliation 
by  prayer,  penance,  and  sacrifice.  Many  of  its  religious  tradi- 
tions and  usages  were  faint  echoes  of  the  primal  religion ;  and 
its  mythological  dreams  of  the  mingling  of  the  gods  with  men, 
of  demigods,  of  Prometheus  dehvered  by  Hercules  from  his  help- 
less sufferings,  were  unconscious  prophecies  and  fleshly  anticipa- 
tions of  Christian  truths. 

This  alone  explains  the  great  readiness  with  -which  heathens 
embraced  the  gospel,  to  the  shame  of  the  Jews.^ 

'Actsxvii.  27   28.       "  Comp.  Matt.  viii.  10;  xv.  28.     Luke  vii.  9.    Acts  x.  35. 


44  FIRST   PERIOD.    A.D.    1-100. 

These  elements  of  truth,  morahty,  and  piety  in  heathenism,  may 
be  ascribed  to  three  sources.  In  the  first  place,  man,  even  in  his 
fallen  state,  retains  some  traces  of  the  divine  image,  a  conscious- 
ness of  God,  however  weak,  conscience,  and  a  deep  longing  for 
union  with  the  Godhead,  for  truth  and  for  righteousness.  In 
this  view  we  may,  with  Tertullian,  call  the  beautiful  and  true 
sentences  of  the  classics,  of  a  Socrates,  a  Plato,  an  Aristotle,  of 
Pindar, Sophocles,  Plutarch,  Cicero,  Virgil,  Seneca,  "the  testimo- 
nies of  a  soul  constitutionally  Christian,'"  of  a  nature  predestined 
Jo  Christianity.  Secondly,  some  account  must  be  made  of  tradi- 
tions and  recollections,  however  faint,  coming  down  from  the 
general  primal  revelations  to  Adam  and  Noah.  But  the  third 
and  most  important  source  of  the  heathen  anticipations  of  truth 
is  the  all-ruling  providence  of  God,  who  has  never  left  himself 
without  a  witness.  Particularly  must  we  consider  the  influence 
/  of  .the  divine  Logos  before  his  incarnation,^  the  tutor  of  mankind, 
the  original  light  of  reason,  shining  in  the  darkness  and  lighting 
every  man,  the  sower  scattering  in  the  soil  of  heathendom  the 
seeds  of  truth,  beauty,  and  virtue.^ 

The  old  oriental  forms  of  heathenism,  the  religion  of  the 
Chinese  (Confucius,  about  550  B.C.),  the  Brahminism  and  the 
later  Buddhaism  of  the  Hindoos  (perhaps  1000  B.C.),  the  religions 
of  the  Persians  (Zoroaster,  700  B.C.),  and  of  the  Egyptians  ("  the 
religion  of  enigma"),  have  only  a  remote  and  indirect  concern 
with  the  introduction  of  Christianity.  But  they  form  to  some 
extent  the  historical  basis  of  the  western  religions,  and  tlic  Per- 
sian dualism  especially  was  not  without  influence  on  the  earlier 
sects  (the  Gnostic  and  Manichean)  of  the  Christian  church. 

The  flower  of  jpaganism  appears  in  the  two  great  nations  of 
classic  antiquity,  Greece  an.d  Eome,  With  the  language,  morality, 
literature,  and  religion  of  these  nations,  the  apostles  came  directly 
into  contact,  and  through  the  whole  first  age  the  church  moves 
on  the  basis  of  these  nationahties.  These,  together  with  the 
Jews,  were  the  chosen  nations  of  the  ancient  world,  and  shared 

*  Testimonia  animae  naturaliter  ChristianaD. 
,    '  Atfyos  aaapKos,  Aoyoj  cTrepjiaTiKSi.  „  *  Comp.  Jphn  j.  4,  5,  9,  10. 


§  13.      GRECIAN   LITERATURE   AND   THE   ROilAN   EMPIRE.      45 

the  eartli  among  tliem.  The  Jews  were  chosen  for  things  eter- 
nal, to  keep  the  sanctuary  of  the  true  rehgion.  The  Greeks 
prepared  the  elements  of  natural  culture,  of  science  and  art,  for 
the  use  of  the  church.  The  Romans  developed  the  idea  of  law, 
and  organized  the  civilized  world  in  a  universal  empire,  ready 
to  serve  the  spiritual  universality  of  the  gospel.  Both  Greeks 
and  Romans  were  unconscious  servants  of  Jesus  Christ,  "the 
unknown  God." 

These  three  nations,  by  nature  at  bitter  enmity  among  them- 
selves, joined  hands  in  the  superscription  on  the  cross,  where 
the  holy  name  and  the  royal  title  of  the  Redeemer  stood  written, 
by  the  command  of  the  heathen  Pilate,  "in  Hebrew  and  Greek 
and  Latin."^ 

§  13.   Grecian  Literature  and  the  Roman  Empire. 

The  literature  of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  the  universal  empire 
of  the  Romans  were,  next  to  the  Mosaic  religion,  the  chief  agents 
in  preparing  the  world  for  Christianity.  They  famished  the 
human  forms,  in  which  the  divine  substance  of  the  gospel,  tho- 
roughly prepared  in  the  bosom  of  the  Jewish  theocracy,  was 
moulded.  They  laid  the  natural  foundation  for  the  supernatural 
edifice  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  God  endowed  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  with  the  richest  natural  gifts,  that  they  might  reach 
the  highest  civilization  possible  without  the  aid  of  Christianity, 
and  thus  both  provide  the  instruments  of  human  science,  art, 
and  law  for  the  use  of  the  church,  and  yet  at  the  same  time 
show  the  utter  impotence  of  these  alone  to  bless  and  save  the 
world. 

The  Greeks,  few  in  number,  like  the  Jews,  but  vastly  more 
important  in  history  than  the  numberless  hordes  of  the  Asiatic 
empires,  were  called  to  the  noble  task  of  bringing  out,  under  a 
sunny  sky  and  with  a  clear  mind,  the  idea  of  humanity  in  its 
natural  vigor  and  beauty,  but  also  in  its  natural  imperfection. 
They  developed  the  principles  of  science  and  art.     They  liberated 

'  John  xix.  2  a. 


46  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

the  mind  from  the  dark  powers  of  nature  and  the  gloomy  brood- 
ings  of  the  eastern  mysticism.  They  rose  to  the  clear  and  free 
consciousness  of  manhood,  boldly  investigated  the  laws  of  nature 
and  of  spirit,  and  carried  out  the  idea  of  beauty  in  all  sorts  of 
artistic  forms.  In  poetry,  sculpture,  architecture,  painting,  philo- 
sophy, rhetoric,  historiography,  they  left  true  master-pieces, 
which  are  to  this  day  admired  and  studied  as  models  of  form  and 
taste. 

All  these  works  became  truly  valuable  and  useful  only  in  the 
hands  of  the  Christian  church,  to  which  they  ultimately  fell. 
Greece  gave  the  apostles  the  most  copious  and  beautiful  language 
to  express  the  divine  truth  of  the  Gospel,  and  Providence  had 
long  before  so  ordered  political  movements,  as  to  spread  that 
language  over  all  the  world.  The  youthful  hero  Alexander  the 
Great,  a  Macedonian  indeed  by  birth,  yet  an  enthusiastic  admirer 
of  Homer,  an  emulator  of  Achilles,  a  disciple  of  the  scientific 
world-conqueror,  Aristotle,  and  thus  the  truest  Greek  of  his  age, 
conceived  the  sublime  thought  of  making  Babylon  the  seat  of  a 
Grecian  empire  of  the  world ;  and  though  his  empire  fell  to  pieces 
at  his  untimely  death,  yet  it  had  already  carried  the  Greek  lan- 
guage and  literature  to  the  borders  of  India,  and  made  them  a 
common  possession  of  all  civilized  nations ;  so  that  the  apostles 
could  make  themselves  understood  through  that  language  in 
every  city  in  the  Eoman  domain.  The  Grecian  philosophy,  ]\ar- 
ticularl^*  the  systems  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  formed  the  natural 
basis  for  scientific  theology ;  Grecian  eloquence,  for  sacred  ora- 
tory ;  Grecian  art,  for  that  of  the  Christian  church.  Indeed,  not 
a  few  ideas  and  maxims  of  the  classics  tread  on  the  threshold 
of  revelation,  and  sound  like  prophecies  of  Christian  truth ; 
especially  the  spiritual  soarings  of  Plato,  the  deep  religious 
reflections  of  Plutarch,'  the  sometimes  almost  Pauline  moral  pre- 
cepts of  Seneca.  To  many  of  the  greatest  church  fathers, 
Justin  Martyr,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Origen,  and  in  some  m.ea- 
sure  even  to  Augustine,  Greek  philosophy  was  a  bridge  to  Chris- 

'  As  in  his  excellent  treatise :  De  sera  numinis  vindicta. 


§  13.      GRECIAN   LITERATURE  AND   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE.     47 

tian  faith,  a  scientific  sclioolmaster  for  Clirist.  Nay,  the  whole 
ancient  Greek  church  rose  on  the  foundation  of  the  Grreek 
language  and  nationality,  and  were  inexplicable  without  them. 

Here  lies  the  real  reason,  why  the  classical  literature  is  to  this 
day  made  the  basis  of  liberal  education  throughout  the  Christian 
world.  Youth  are  introduced  to  the  elementary  forms  of  science 
and  art,  to  models  of  clear,  tasteful  style,  and  to  self-made 
humanity  at  the  summit  of  natural  culture,  and  thus  they  are  at 
the  same  time  trained  to  the  scientific  apprehension  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion. 

But  aside  from  this  permanent  value  of  the  Grecian  literature, 
the  glory  of  its  native  land  had,  at  the  birth  of  Christ,  already 
irrecoverably  departed.  Civil  liberty  and  independence  had  been 
destroyed  by  internal  discord  and  corruption.  Philosophy  had 
run  down  into  scepticism  and  refined  materialism.  Art  had  been 
degraded  to  the  service  of  levity  and  sensuality.  Infidelity  or 
superstition  had  supplanted  sound  religious  sentiment.  Dis- 
honesty and  licentiousness  reigned  among  high  and  low. 

This  hopeless  state  of  things  could  not  but  impress  the  more 
earnest  and  noble  souls  with  the  emptiness  of  all  science  and  art, 
and  the  utter  insufiiciency  of  this  natural  culture  to  meet  the 
deeper  wants  of  the  heart.     It  must  fill  them  with  longings  for  a  , 
new  religion. 

The  EoMANS  were  the  practical  and  political  nation  of  anti- 
quity. Their  calling  was  to  carry  out  the  idea  of  the  state  and 
of  civil  law,  and  to  unite  the  nations  of  the  world  in  a  colossal 
empire,  stretching  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Atlantic,  and  from 
the  Lybian  desert  to  the  banks  of  the  Ehine.  If  the  Greeks 
had,  of  all  nations,  the  deepest  mind,  and  in  literature  even  gave 
laws  to  their  conquerors,  the  Komans  had  the  strongest  character, 
and  were  born  to  rule  the  world  without.  This  difference  of 
course  reached  even  into  the  moral  and  religious  life  of  the  two 
nations.  "Was  the  Greek  mythology  the  work  of  artistic  fantasy 
and  a  religion  of  poesy ;  so  was  the  Eoman  the  work  of  cal- 
culation adapted  to  state  purposes,  political  and  utilitarian,  but 
at  the  same  time  solemn,  earnest,  and  energetic. 


48  FIKST  PERIOD.   A.D.    1-100. 

The  Romans  from  the  first  believed  themselves  called  to  govern 
the  world.     The 

"Tu  regere  imperio  populos,  Romane,  memento!" 

had  been  their  motto,  in  feet,  long  before  Virgil  thus  gave  it 
form.  The  very  name  of  the  urbs  aeterna,  and  the  charac- 
teristic legend  of  its  founding,  prophesied  its  future.  In  their 
greatest  straits  the  Romans  never  for  a  moment  despaired  of  the 
commonwealth.  With  vast  energy,  profound  policy,  unwaver- 
ing consistency,  and  wolf-like  rapacity,  they  pursued  their 
ambitious  schemes,  and  became  indeed  the  lords,  but  also,  as 
their  first  historian,  Tacitus  says,  the  insatiable  robbers  of  the 
world.^ 

This  immense  extension,  it  is  true,  brought  with  it  a  diminu- 
tion of  those  domestic  and  civil  virtues,  which  at  first  so  highly 
distinguished  the  Romans  above  the  Greeks.  The  race  of 
patriots  and  deliverers,  who  came  from  their  ploughs  to  the  public 
service,  and  humbly  returned  again  to  the  plough  or  the  kitchen, 
was  extinct.  Their  worship  of  the  gods,  which  was  the  root  of 
their  virtue,  had  sunk  to  mere  form,  running  either  into  the 
most  absurd  superstitions,  or  giving  place  to  unbelief,  till  the  very 
priests  laughed  each  other  in  the  face  when  they  met  in  the 
street.  The  ancient  simplicity  and  contentment  had  been  ex- 
changed for  boundless  avarice  and  prodigality.  Morality  and 
chastity,  so  beautifully  symbolized  in  the  household  ministry  of 
the  virgin  Vesta,  had  yielded  to  vice  and  debauchery.  Amuse- 
ment had  come  to  be  sought  in  barbarous  fights  of  beasts  and 
gladiators,  which  not  rarely  consumed  twenty  thousand  human 
lives  in  a  single  month.  The  lower  classes  had  lost  all  nobler 
feeling,  cared  for  nothing  but  "  panem  et  circenses,"  and  made 
the  proud  imperial  city  on  the  Tiber  a  slave  of  slaves.  The  huge 
empire  of  Tiberius  and  of  Nero  was  but  a  giant  body  without  a 
soul,  going,  with  steps  slow  but  sure,  to  final  dissolution.  "We 
have  only  to  read  the  testimonies  of  its  greatest  authors,  of 
a  Tacitus,  a  Seneca,  or  a  Persius,  to  find  the  truth  of  Paul's  dark 

'  "  Raptores  orbis,  quos  non  orions,  non  occidens  satiaverit." 


§   14.      JUDAISil  A^D  HEATHENISM  IN"  CONTACT.  49 

picture  of  heathendom,  in  the  first  chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the 
Eomans,  fully  certified  by  the  heathens  themselves,  and  to  see 
the  absolute  need  of  a  divine  redemption. 

Thus  far  the  negative.  On  the  other  hand  the  universal 
empire  of  Rome  was  a  positive  groundwork  for  the  universal 
empire  of  the  gospel.  It  served  as  a  crucible,  in  which  all 
contradictory  and  irreconcilable  peculiarities  of  the  ancient 
nations  and  religions  were  dissolved  into  the  chaos  of  a  new 
creation.  The  Roman  legions  razed  the  jDartition-walls  among 
the  ancient  nations,  brought  the  extremes  of  the  civilized  world 
together  in  free  intercourse,  and  united  north  and  south  and  east 
and  west  in  the  bonds  of  a  common  language  and  culture,  of  com- 
mon laws  and  customs.  Thus  they  evidently,  though  uncon- 
sciouslj^,  opened  the  way  for  the  rapid  and  general  spread  of  that 
religion,  which  unites  all  nations  in  one  family  of  God  by  the 
spiritual  bond  of  faith  and  love. 

The  civil  laws  and  institutions,  also,  and  the  great  administra- 
tive wisdom  of  Rome  did  much  for  the  outward  organization  of 
the  Christian  church.  As  the  Greek  church  rose  on  the  basis  of 
the  Grecian  nationality,  so  the  Latin  church  rose  on  that  of 
ancient  Rome,  and  reproduced  in  higher  forms  both  its  virtues 
and  its  defects.  Roman  Catholicism  is  pagan  Rome  baptized,  a 
Christian  reproduction  of  the  universal  emj)ire  seated  of  old  in 
the  city  of  the  seven  hills. 

§  14.  Judaism  and  Heathenism  in  Contact 

The  Roman  empire,  though  directly  establishing  no  more  than 
an  outward  political  union,  still  promoted  indirectly  a  mutual 
intellectual  and  moral  approach  of  the  hostile  j;eligions  of  the 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  who  were  to  be  reconciled  in  one  divine 
brotherhood  by  the  supernatural  power  of  the  cross  of  Christ. 

1.  The  Jews,  since  the  Babylonish  captivity,  had  been  scat- 
tered over  all  the  world.  In  spite  of  the  antipathy  of  the  Gentiles, 
they  had,  by  talent  and  industry,  risen  to  wealth,  influence,  and 
every  privilege,  and  had  built  their  synagogues  in  all  the  commer- 
cial cities  of  the  Roman  empire.    They  had  thus  sown  the  seeds  of 

4 


60  FIRST   PERIOD.    A.D.   1-100. 

y  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  and  of  Messianic  hope  in  the  field 

/■'^  of  the  idolatrous  world.     The  Old  Testament  scriptures  were 

translated  into  Greek  two  centui'ies  before  Christ,  and  were  read 
and  expounded  in  the  public  worship  of  God,  which  was  open  to 
all.  Every  synagogue  was,  as  it  were,  a  mission-station  of  mono- 
theism, and  furnished  the  apostles  an  admirable  place  and  a  most 
natural  introduction  for  their  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the 

J  ^  ,  fulfiller  of  the  law  and  the  prophets. 

Then,  as  the  heathen  religions  had  been  hopelessly  undermined 

by  sceptical  philosophy  and  popular  infidelity,  many  earnest 

Gentiles,  especially  multitudes  of  women,  came  over  to  Judaism 

either  wholly  or  in  part.     The  thorough  converts  called  "  prose- 

.    ^    v      lytes   of   righteousness,'"   were   commonly   still   more  bigoted 

>  >^:    <     and  fanatical  than  the  native  Jews.     The  half-converts,  "  pro- 
selytes of  the  gate '""  or  "  fearers  of  God,'"  who  adopted  only  the 

^  monotheism,  the  princij^al  moral  laws,  and  the  Messianic  hopes 

•J  -."i     ^\      of  the  Jews,  without  being  circumcised,  api^ear  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament as  the  most  susceptible  hearers  of  the  gospel,  and  formed 
the  nucleus  of  many  of  the  first  Christian  churches.     Of  this  class 
were  the  centurion  of  Capernaum,  Cornelius  of  Cesarea,  Lydia  of 
\''      Philippi,  Timothy,  and  many  other  prominent  disciples. 
^^^  2.  On  the  other  hand,  tlie  Grseco-Eoman  heathenism,  through 

\r  >v^^,  ^  \  its  language,  philosophy,  and  literature,  exerted  no  inconsiderable 
""  influence  to  soften  the  fanatical  bigotry  of  the  higher  and  more 
cultivated  classes  of  the  Jews.  Generally  the  Jews  of  the  dis- 
persion, who  spoke  the  Greek  language,  the  Ilellemsts,  as  they 
were  called,  were  much  more  liberal  than  the  proper  Hebrews, 
or  Palestinian  Jews,  who  kept  their  mother  tongue.  This  is  evi- 
dent in  the  Gentile  missionaries,  Barnabas  of  Cyprus  and  Paul 
of  Tarsus,  and  in  the  whole  church  of  Antioch,  in  contrast  with 
that  at  Jerusalem.  The  Hellenistic  Jewish  form  of  Christianity 
was  the  natural  bridge  to  the  Gentile. 

The  most  remarkable  example  of  a  transitional,  though  very 

'^  ny'in  "^712   Ex.  xx.  10,  Deut  V.  14. 

3  0(  ivacStU,  ol  (p-^PovfiCfoi  Tuy  Sctfr,  Acts  X.  2,  xiii.  IC,  &c..  aud  Josephus. 


§   14.      JUDAISM   AND   HEATHEXISil   IN   CONTACT.  51 

fantastic  and  Gnostic-like  combination  of  Jewisli  and  heathen 
elements  meets  us  in  the  educated  circles  of  the  Egyptian  metro- 
polis, Alexandria,  and  in  the  system  of  Philo,  who  was  contem-  /i 
porary  with  the  founding  of  the  Christian  church,  though  he 
never  came  in  contact  with  it.  This  Jewish  divine  sought  to 
harmonize  the  religion  of  Moses  with  the  philosophy  of  Plato  by 
the  help  of  an  ingenious  but  arbitrary  allegorical  interpretation  of 
the  Old  Testament;  and  from  the  books  of  Proverbs  and  of 
Wisdom  he  deduced  a  doctrine  of  the  Logos  so  strikingly  like 
that  of  John's  Gospel,  that  many  expositors  think  it  necessary  to 
impute  to  the  apostle  an  acquaintance  with  the  writings,  or  at 
least  with  the  terminology  of  Philo.  But  Philo's  speculation  is 
to  the  apostle's  "  Word  made  flesh,"  as  a  shadow  to  the  body, 
or  a  dream  to  the  reality. 

The  Therapeutae,  or  Worshippers,  a  mystic,  ascetic  sect  in 
Egypt,  akin  to   the  Essenes  in   Judea,  carried  this   Platonic       \[-v^  o 
Judaism  into  jDractical  life ;  but  were,  of  course,  equally  unsuc-       %   'x:    -. 
cessful  in  uniting  the  two  religions  in  a  vital  and  permanent  '"   " 
way.     Such  a  union  could  only  be  effected  by  a  new  religion 
revealed  from  heaven. 

Quite  independent  of  the  philosophical  Judaism  of  Alexandria  .   ^ 

were  the  Samaritans,  a  mixed  race,  which  also  combined,  though  • '  "^l' 
in  a  different  way,  the  elements  of  Jewish  and  Gentile  religion.  ,:^  ^  ^ 
They  held  to  the  Pentateuch,  to  circumcision,  and  to  carnal  Mes  '   ** 

sianic  hopes ;   but  they  had  a  temple  of  their  own  on  Mount  I" 

Gerizim,  and  mortally  hated  the  proper  Jews.     Among  these  \ 

Christianity,  as  would  apjDcar  from  the  interview  of  Jesus  with    ^   s  'x) 
the  woman  of  Samaria,^  and  the  preaching  of  Philip,^  found    f    ^  ^^' 
ready  access,  but,  as  among  the  Essenes  and  Therapeutae,  fell    <    ^   "^    ^ 
easily  into  a  heretical  form.     Smion  Magus,  for  example,  and  z^.  \    ^  e 
some  other  Samaritan  arch-heretics,  are  represented  by  the  early    ->^   )k   >" " 
Christian  writers  as  the  principal  originators  of  Gnosticism.  ,  *-  C'     v* 

3.  Thus  was  the  way  for  Christianity  prepared  on  every  side,  '-'    ^^-wj 

positively  and  negatively,  directly  and  indirectly,  in  theory  and 
in  practice,  by  truth  and  by  error,  by  false  belief  and  by  unbelief 

'  Jno.  iv.  *  Acts  viii 


52  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

— tliosc  hostile  brotlicrs,  wliicli  yet  cannot  live  apart — by  Jewish 
religion,  by  Grecian  cultui'e,  and  by  Eoman  conquest ;  by  the 
vainly  attempted  amalgamation  of  Jewish  and  heathen  thought, 
by  the  exposed  impotence  of  natural  civilization,  philosophy, 
art,  and  political  power,  by  the  decay  of  the  old  religions,  by  the 
universal  distraction  and  hopeless  misery  of  the  age,  and  by  the 
yearnings  of  all  earnest  and  noble  souls  for  the  unknown  God. 

"  In  the  fulness  of  time,"  when  the  fiiirest  flowers  of  science  and 
art  had  withered,  and  the  world  was  on  the  verge  of  despair,  the 
Virgin's  Son  was  born  to  heal  the  infirmities  of  mankind.  Christ 
entered  a  dying  world  as  the  author  of  a  new  and  imperishable 
life. 


§  15.      JESUS  CHRIST.  53 


CHAPTER  II. 


FOUNDING  AND  GROWTH  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


§  15.  Jesus  Christ. 

I.  The  four  canonical  Gospels  and  the  other  writings  of  the  N.  T.    Jose- 

PHUS :  Antiquit.  xviii.  3,  3.  In  the  heathen  authors  occur  only  a  few 
passing  notices  of  Christ  and  his  crucifixion  under  Pontius  Pilate.  See 
Tacitus  :  Annal.  xv.  44.  Suetonius  :  Vita  Claudii,  c.  25.  Plinius  jun. : 
Epist.  X.  97.  LuciAN :  De  morte  peregr.  c.  11. 

II,  J.  J.  Hess:  Lebensgeschichte  Jesu.  Ziir.  1781.  8th  ed.  1823.  3  vols.  F. 
V.  Eeinhard  :  Versuch  iiber  den  Plan  Jesu.  5th  ed.  by  Heubner.  Wit- 
tenb.  1830.  0.  Ullmann  :  Die  Siindlosigkeit  Jesu.  Hamb.  1828.  6th  ed. 
1853.  K.  Hase  :  Das  Leben  Jesu.  Leipz.  1829.  4th  ed.  1854.  Nean- 
DER :  Das  Leben  Jesu.  Hamb.  1837.  5th  ed.  1852.  The  same  in  Eng- 
hsh  by  McClintock  &  Blumenthal,  N.  York,  1848.  Sepp  (R.  C.)  :  Das 
Leben  Jesu  Christi.  Regensb.  1843  sqq.  4  vols.  J.  P.  Lange  :  Das 
Leben  Jesu.  Heidelb.  1847  sqq.  3  parts.  A.  Ebrard  :  Wissenschaftliche 
Kritik  der  evangehschen  Geschichte.  2d  ed.  Erl.  1850.  J.  Young  :  The 
Christ  of  History.  Lond.  and  New  York,  1855.  Lichtexstein  :  Lebens- 
geschichte Jesu  in  chronolog.  Uebersicht.  Erl.  1856.  Gess  :  Die  Lehre 
von  der  Person  Christi  entwickelt  aus  dem  Selbst-bewusstsein  Christi 
und  aus  dem  Zeugnisse  der  Apostel.     Pas.  1856. 

(The  critical  works  of  Paulus,  D.  F.  Strauss,  Bruno  Bauer,  and  to  some  extent 
those  of  Gfrorer,  Weisse,  and  Hase,  on  the  evangelical  history,  represent 
the  various  phases  of  German  rationalism  and  negative  criticism,  but 
especially  in  the  case  of  Strauss's  Leben  Jesu,  which  is  translated  also  into 
English,  have  called  forth  a  copious  apologetic  literature,  which  we  can- 
not here  cite  in  detaU.  Comp.  the  full  hterary  apparatus  in  Hase's  Leben 
Jesu,  p.  37  sqq.). 

On  the  chronology  of  the  Life  of  Jesus  see  K.  Wieseler  :  Chronolog.  Syn- 
opse  der  4  Evangelien.  Hamb.  1843.  Jarvis  :  A  Chronological  Introduc- 
tion to  the  History  of  the  Church.  N.  York,  1845.  Seyffarth  :  Chrono- 
logia  s.,  Untersuchungen  iiber  das  Geburtsjahr  des  Herrn.  Leipzig,  1846. 
F.  Piper  :  Das  Datum  der  Geburt  Christi,  in  the  "  Evangel.  Kalender  " 
for  1856.  p.  41  sqq. 

When  the  fulness  of  time  was  come,  God  sent  forth  his  only- 


54  FIRST   PERIOD.    A.D.    1-100. 

begotten  Son,  "  the  Desire  of  all  nations,"  to  redeem  tlie  -^orld 
from  tlie  curse  of  sin,  and  to  establisli  an  everlasting  kingdom  of 
truth,  love,  and  peace  for  all  who  should  believe  on  his  name. 

In  Jesus  Christ  a  preparatory  history  both  divine  and  human 
comes  to  its  close.  In  him  culminate  all  the  previous  revelations 
of  God  to  Jews  and  Gentiles ;  and  in  him  are  fulfilled  the  deepest 
desires  and  efforts  of  both  Gentiles  and  Jews  for  redemption.  In 
his  divine  nature,  as  Logos,  he  is  the  eternal  Son  of  the  Father, 
and  the  agent  in  the  creation  and  preservation  of  the  world,  and 
in  all  those  preparatory  manifestations  of  God,  which  were  com- 
pleted in  the  incarnation.  In  his  human  nature,  as  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  he  is  the  ripe  fruit  of  the  religious  growth  of  humanity^ 
with  an  earthly  ancestry,  which  St.  Matthew  traces  to  Abraham, 
the  patriarch  of  the  Jews,  and  St.  Luke  (the  evangelist  of  the 
Gentiles),  to  Adam,  the  father  of  all  men.  In  him  dwells  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily;  and  in  him  also  is  realized  the 
ideal  of  human  virtue  and  piety.  He  is  the  eternal  Truth,  and 
the  divine  Life  itself,  personally  joined  with  our  nature,  our 
Lord  and  our  God;  yet  at  the  same  time  flesh  of  our  flesh  and 
bone  of  our  bone.  In  him  is  solved  the  problem  of  religion,  the 
reconciliation  and  fellowship  of  man  with  God;  and  we  must 
expect  no  clearer  revelation  of  God,  nor  any  higher  religious 
attainment  of  man,  than  is  already  guaranteed  and  substantially 
given  in  his  peison. 

But  as  Jesus  Christ  thus  closes  all  previous  history,  so,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  begins  an  endless  future.  He  is  the  author  of 
a  new  creation,  the  second  Adam,  the  father  of  regenerate  human- 
ity, the  head  of  the  church,  "  which  is  his  body,  the  fulness  of 
him,  that  filleth  all  in  all."  lie  is  the  pure  and  inexhaustible 
fountain  of  that  stream  of  light  and  life,  which  has  since  flowed 
unbroken  through  nations  and  ages,  and  will  continue  to  flow,  till 
the  earth  shall  be  full  of  his  praise,  and  every  tongue  shall  con- 
fess that  he  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.  The 
universal  diffusion  and  absolute  dominion  of  the  spirit  and  life 
of  Christ  will  be  also  the  completion  of  the  human  race,  the  end 
of  history,  and  the  beginning  of  a  glorious  eternity. 


§   15.      JESUS  CHRIST.  55 

Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  under  Caesar  Augustus,  at 
least  four  years  before  our  Dionysian  era ;  for  the  year  of  Herod's 
death  was  750,  not  754,  after  the  founding  of  Eome.  He  was 
born  of  the  virgin  Mary,  the  bride  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  at 
Bethlehem  of  Judea,  in  the  royal  line  of  David.  The  world 
was  at  peace,  and  the  gates  of  Janus  were  closed  for  only  the 
second  time  in  the  history  of  Rome.  Angels  from  heaven  pro- 
claimed the  glad  tidings  of  his  birth  with  songs  of  praise  ;  Jewish 
shepherds  from  the  fields,  and  heathen  sages  from  the  east, 
greeted  the  new-born  king  in  the  manger  with  the  adoration  of 
believing  hearts.  He  grew  up  quietly  and  unnoticed  in  the 
despised  village  of  Nazareth  in  Galilee,  under  the  care  of  poor 
but  godly  parents,  and  with  no  source  of  instruction  save  the  t 
secret  communion  of  the  soul  with  God,  and  the  religion  of  the  ,' 
ancient  covenant.  He  began  his  public  ministry  in  the  thirtieth 
year  of  his  age,  and  chose  from  among  the  unlearned  fishermen  ^^ 
of  Galilee  twelve  apostles  for  the  Jews  and  seventy  evangelists 
for  the  Gentiles.  Three  years  he  went  about  in  Palestine  doing 
good,  speaking  words  of  spirit  and  life,  and  working  miracles  of 
compassion  and  love.  He  had  no  earthly  possessions.  A  few 
pious  women  from  time  to  time  filled  his  purse ;  and  this  purse 
was  in  the  hands  of  a  thief  and  traitor.  He  never  courted  the 
favor  of  the  great,  but  was  the  object  of  their  hatred  and  persecu- 
tion. He  never  flattered  the  prejudices  of  the  age,  but  rebuked 
sin  and  vice  in  all  circles  of  societ3^  He  was  no  scholar,  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  nor  artist,  nor  orator ;  yet  was  he 
wiser  than  all  earthly  sages,  he  spake  as  never  man  spake,  and  he 
made  an  impression  on  his  own  age  and  all  ages  after,  such  as  no 
man  could  ever  make.  He  conquered  sin  and  death  on  their  own 
ground,  and  thus  redeemed  and  sanctified  the  nature  of  man. 
He  exhibited  in  his  private  life  and  public  walk  the  purest  and 
deepest  love  to  God  and  man ;  a  peaceful  harmony  of  all  the 
powers  and  virtues  of  the  soul ;  an  unexampled  union  of  dignity 
and  humility,  of  earnestness  and  love,  of  strength  and  meekness, 
of  energy  and  mildness,  of  self-control  and  submission,  of  great- 
ness and  simplicity ;  in  short,  the  ideal  of  moral  perfection.     At 


6Q  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

last  lie  completed  his  active  obedience  by  the  passive  obedience 
of  suffering  in  perfect  re'signation  to  the  holy  ^^^ll  of  God ;  and 
before  ho  had  reached  the  j^rime  of  manhood — the  Saviour  of  the 
"world  a  youth! — he  died,  condemned  by  the  Jewish  courts, 
rejected  by  the  people,  denied  by  Peter,  betrayed  by  Judas,  but 
surrounded  by  his  weeping  mother  and  faithful  disciples;  he 
died  the  shameful  death  of  the  cross,  the  just  for  the  unjust,  the 
innocent  for  the  guilty,  a  free  self-sacrifice  of  infinite  love,  to 
reconcile  the  world  unto  God.  The  third  day  he  rose  from  the 
grave  the  conqueror  of  death  and  hell,  the  j^rince  of  life  and 
resurrection  ;  he  appeared  to  his  disciples ;  he  took  possession  of 
his  heavenly  throne,  and  by  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
he  established  the  church,  which  he  has  ever  since  protected, 
nourished,  and  comforted,  and  with  which  he  has  promised  to  abide, 
till  he  shall  come  again  in  glory  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead. 
But  a  human  pen  can  no  more  do  justice  to  the  life  of  Jesus' 
than  one,  to  use  the  words  of  the  genial  and  pious  Lavater,  could 
"  paint  the  glory  of  the  rising  sun  with  charcoal."  The  w^hole 
history  of  the  church,  with  its  countless  fruits  of  the  divine  life  of 
truth  and  love,  is  an  imperfect  commentary  on  the  sketch  drawn  by 
the  evangelists  with  childlike  simplicity,  yet  unfathomable  depth, 
and  with  such  general  and  lasting  effect  as  could  not  be  produced 
by  the  highest  arts  of  historical  composition.  The  complete  cata- 
logue of  virtues  could  give  no  adequate  view  of  the  great  pecu- 
liarity in  the  character  of  Jesus,  the  absolute  symmetry  of  all 
moral  faculties,  the  perfect  inward  harmony,  unruffled  by  the 
slightest  passion  or  selfishness,  never  a  moment  withdrawn  from 
the  closest  communion  with  the  Father  in  heaven,  or  from 
unreserved  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  mankind.  Ilerc  is  truly 
the  fountain  of  life  and  peace.  Here  is  the  highest  union  of 
piety  and  virtue,  of  love  to  God  and  love  to  man,  ever  seen  uj)on 
earth.  Here  is  the  "  holy  of  holies"  of  humanity,  before  which 
infidelity  itself  feels  an  irresistible  awe.  Even  a  Eousscau 
exclaimed :  "  Socrates  lived  and  died  like  a  sage,  but  Jesua 
Christ  lived  and  died  like  a  God !" 

'  Conip.  Jno.  xxi.  25. 


§    15.      JESUS   CHRIST.  57 

The  divinity  of  Christ,  and  his  whole  mission  as  Redeemer,  is 
an  article  of  faith,  and,  as  such,  above  logical  or  mathematical 
demonstration.  Yet  it  forces  itself  irresistibly  upon  the  thinking 
mind. 

It  appears,  in  the  first  place,  in  his  own  express  testimony 
respecting  himself.  This  must  be  either  true,  or  else  fearfully 
presumptuous,  and  indeed  downright  blasphemy.  But  how  can 
the  latter  supposition  stand  a  moment  before  the  moral  purity 
and  dignity  of  Jesus,  revealed  in  his  every  word  and  work,  and 
acknowledged  by  the  general  voice  even  of  Unitarians  and  Ration- 
Jilists  ?  The  concession  of  the  human  perfection  of  Jesus  involves 
the  truth  of  his  testimony  respecting  his  own  divinity,  and  of 
all  those  expressions  in  which  he  claims  divine  names,  attributes, 
and  worship.  Self-deception,  in  a  matter  so  momentous,  and 
with  a  mind  in  other  respects  so  clear  and  so  sound,  is  of  course 
equally  oat  of  the  question.  Thu.s  we  are  shut  up  to  the  divinity 
of  Christ ;  and  reason  itself  must  at  last  bow  in  silent  awe  before 
the  tremendous  word ;  "I  and  the  Father  are  one ! "  and  resjiond 
witlj  sceptical  St.  Thomas :   "  My  Lord  and  my  God ! " 

To  the  same  purpose  are  the  immense  efiects  of  the  manifesta- 
tion of  Jesus,  lying  far  beyond  all  human  power ;  the  history  of 
the  last  eighteen  hundred  years,  which  testifies  on  every  page 
the  moral  glory  and  irresistible  attraction  of  his  holy  name ;  and 
the  faith  of  the  church,  which  is  at  this  day  as  lively  and  power- 
ful as  ever,  and  more  widely  spread  than  ever  before.  The 
rationalistic  and  mythical  methods  of  explaining  the  gospels, 
really  explain  nothing  at  all ;  they  only  substitute  for  the  super- 
rational  and  supernatural  miracle  in  which  they  will  not  believe, 
an  irrational  and  unnatural  wonder ;  they  make  the  great  fact 
of  the  universal  Christian  church  a  stream  without  a  source,  a 
house  without  a  foundation,  an  effect  without  a  cause,  a  pure 
absurdity.  Against  these  we  may  quote  with  full  right  a  re 
markable  testimony  uttered  by  Napoleon  on  the  rock  of  St. 
Helena,  in  full  view  of  his  own  unrivalled  career  of  victoiy  and 
defeat.  "  I  know  men,"  said  he  to  General  Bertrand ;  "  and  I 
tell  you,  Christ  was  not  a  man.  *  *  *  Everything  about  Christ 


58  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

astonislies  me.  His  spirit  overwlielms  and  confounds  me.  There 
is  no  comparison  between  him  and  any  other  being.  He  stands 
single  and  alone.  Alexander,  Ctesar,  Charlemagne,  and  I,  have 
founded  empires.  But  on  what  rest  the  creations  of  our  genius  ? 
On  force.  Jesus  alone  founded  his  kingdom  on  love;  and  at 
this  hour  millions  of  men  would  die  for  him." 

Yes;  millions  of  the  most  enlightened,  the  noblest  and  the 
best  of  men,  have  freely  died,  and  millions  are  now  ready  to  die 
for  the  name  of  Jesus,  while  hardly  one  would  lay  down  his  life 
for  Alexander  or  Caesar  or  Napoleon,  for  Socrates  or  Plato.  In 
this  single  thought  lies  an  unanswerable  argument  for  the  divinity 
of  Christ. 

Besides  the  artless,  but  for  this  reason  all  the  more  trustworthy 
and  impressive  portrait  in  the  gospels,  we  have  from  outside  the 
church  a  striking  testimony  concerning  Christ  from  the  mouth 
of  the  learned  Jewish  historian,  Josephus,  towards  the  end  of  the 
first  century.  This  testimony,  first  cited  by  Eusebius,  is  so  strong, 
that  several  critics  since  the  seventeenth  century  have  declared 
it  either  in  whole  or  in  part  an  interpolation.  But  it  is  found  in 
all  the  manuscripts  of  Josephus,  who,  though  no  Christian,  yet, 
as  the  historian  of  his  nation  and  age,  could  not  have  passed  over 
Christ  in  utter  silence ;  the  less,  since  he  mentions  also  John  the 
Baptist.  The.  internal  difficulty,  that  with  such  a  persuasion  of 
the  ]\Iessiahship  of  Jesus  he  could  not  have  remained  a  Jew,  may 
possibly  be  solved  by  the  consideration  of  his  eclecticism  and  his 
acknowledged  want  of  consistency  and  strong  character.  We 
here  give  his  testimony,  marking  in  notes  the  passages  most 
liable  to  suspicion,  from  his  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  composed 
about  the  year  90 : — 

"jSTow  there  rose  about  this  time  Jesus,  a  wise  man,  if  it  be 
law  fid  to  call  him  a  man ;  for  he  was  a  doer  of  wonderful  works,^ 
a  teacher  of  such  men  as  receive  the  truth  with  pleasure.  He 
carried  away  wdth  him  many  of  the  Jews  and  also  many  of  the 
Greeks.     He  was  the  Christ.^    And  after  Pilate,  at  the  sugges- 

'  irapaSd^cov  cpyu)v  TTOiijrfis.  "  o  X/iioroj  ouruj  t)ii. 


§  16.   MIRACLE  OF  PENTECOST,  BIRTH-DAY  OF  THE  CHURCH,   59 

tion  of  the  principal  men  among  ns,  had  condemned  him  to  the 
cross,  his  first  adherents  did  not  forsake  him.  For  he  appeared 
to  them  ahve  again  the  third  day  •,^  the  divine  prophets  having 
foretold  these  and  ten  thousand  other  wonderful  things  concern- 
ing him.  And  the  tribe  of  those  called  Christians,  after  him,  is 
not  extinct  to  this  day." 

§  16.  The  Miracle  of  Pentecost^  and  the  Birth-day  of  the  Church. 

•    A.D.  30. 

Compare  the  commentaries  on  Acts  ii.  and  1  Cor.  xii.  and  xiv. ;  and  several 
treatises  on  the  speaking  with  tongues,  by  Herder,  Bleek,  Schnecken- 
BURGER,  WiESELER,  Baur,  Rossteuscher,  Hilgenfeld,  and  others. 

The  Jewish  Pentecost,  the  feast  of  the  first-fruits,  and  of  the 
giving  of  the  law  on  Sinai,  prefiguring  the  first  spiritual  harvest 
and  the  establishment  of  the  covenant  of  gTace,  as  the  passover 
prefigured  the  atoning  death  and  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  re- 
ceived in  the  year  of  Christ's  death  (30)  an  unmeasurable  signifi- 
cance, as  the  birth-day  pfthe  Christian  church  and  the  beginning      "^ 
of  the  third  era  in  the  revelation  of  the  triune  God.     On  this  day  /  "fL^piyv 
the  Holy  Spirit,  who  had  hitherto  wrought  only  sporadically  and  -  tj^X^ 
transiently,  took  up  his  permanent  abode  in  mankind  as  the 
Spirit  of  truth  and  holiness,  with  the  whole  fulness  of  saving 
grace,  to  apply  that  grace  thenceforth  to  believers  by  means  of 
the  word  and  the  sacraments,  and  to  reveal  and  glorify  Christ  in 
them,  as  Christ  had  revealed  and  glorified  the  Father. 

While  the  apostles  and  disciples,  a  hundred  and  twenty  (ten 
times  twelve)  in  number,  were  assembled  in  or  near  the  temple 
for  the  morning  devotions  of  the  festal  day,  and  were  waiting  in 
prayer  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise,  the  exalted  Saviour 
poured  down  from  his  heavenly  throne  the  fulness  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  upon  them,  and  founded  his  church  upon  earth.  Extra- 
ordinary signs  from  heaven,  symbols  of  the  purifying  and  quick- 
ening power  of  the  divine  Spirit,  attended  this  new  creation,  and 

'  i(paiir!  yhp  airot;  Tpirrjv  s^wv  rijitpav  fuv. 


60  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

filled  tlic  multitude  of  Jews  and  their  companions,  who  had  come 
up  to  the  feast  from  all  quarters  of  the  Roman  emj^ire,  with  won- 
der and  fear.  By  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit  and  of  fire,  the  apos- 
tles were  now  formally  ordained  from  on  high  to  the  work,  to 
which  they  had  already  been  called  and  trained  by  the  Lord. 
The  Holy  Ghost  gave  them  a  clear  and  full  view  of  the  person 
and  work  of  Christ,  and  so  took  possession  of  their  minds,  that 
they  thenceforth  proclaimed  the  gospel  by  tongue  and  pen,  out  of 
the  fulness  of  the  Spirit  and  with  divine  authority,  and  became 
the  pillars  of  the  church.  This  was  the  original  act  of  inspiration. 
It  not  only  enlightened  the  apostles  in  knowledge,  but  trans- 
jDorted  them  into  the  element  of  a  new,  supernatural  life,  into  the 
centre  of  the  Christian  truth  and  salvation,  and  qualified  and 
solemnly  consecrated  them  to  be  infallible  witnesses  of  Jesus. 

The  torrent  of  the  new-creating  Spirit  and  life  broke  through 
the  confines  of  nature  and  of  everyday  speech,  and  burst  forth 
at  first  in  an  act  of  prayer  and  self-edification.  In  an  ecstatic 
■\'  elevation,  and  in  new^  kinds  of  language  corresponding  thereto, 
the  disciples  praised  the  wonderful  works  of  divine  love.  Tliis 
"speaking  with  tongues,"  therefore,  concerned  primarily  only 
the  inspired  ones  themselves.  It  was  the  praise  and  thanksgiv- 
ing of  their  enraptured  souls  for  the  gift  received,  and  was  intel- 
■^  ligible  only  to  hearers  similarly  wrought  upon  by  the  power  from 
on  high,  w^hile  the  unbelievers  scofiingly  ascribed  the  wonderful 
effect  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  excess  of  wine. 

But  this  speaking  with  tongues  was  followed  by  the  intcrpre- 
i^tation  of  tongues ;  the  rapturous  language  of  the  soul  in  converse 
with  God,  by  the  sober  words  of  ordinary  self-possession  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people. 

"While  the  assembled  multitude  wondered  at  this  miracle  with 
widely  various  emotions,  St.  Peter,  the  rock-man,  appeared  in 
the  name  of  all  the  disciples,  and  in  a  clear,  simple,  and  most 
suitable  address  ex|)laincd  the  supernatural  phenomenon  as  the 
work  of  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whom  the  Jews  had  crucified, 
but  who  was,  by  word  and  deed,  by  his  resurrection  from  the 
dead,  his  exaltation  to  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  this  effusion 


§    17.      ST.    PETER   AND   THE    CHURCH   AMOXG   THE   JEWS,     61 

of  tlie  Holy  Ghost,  accredited  as  tlie  promised  Messiah,  according 
to  the  express  prediction  of  the  Scripture.  He  at  the  same  time 
called  upon  his  hearers  to  repent  and  be  baptized  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  as  the  founder  and  head  of  the  heavenly  kingdom,  that 
even  they,  though  they  had  crucified  the  Lord  of  glory,  might 
receive  forgiveness  of  sins  and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  whose 
wonderful  workings  they  saw  in  the  disciples. 

This  was  the  first  independent  testimony  of  the  apostles,  the 
first  Christian  sermon.  It  resulted  in  the  conversion  and  baptism 
of  three  thousand  persons,  gathered  as  first-fruits  into  the  garners 
of  the  church. 

In  these  first-fruits  of  the  glorified  Eedeemer,  and  in  this  found- 
ing of  the  new  economy  of  Spirit  and  gospel,  instead  of  the  old 
theocracy  of  letter  and  law,  the  typical  meaning  of  the  Jewish 
Pentecost  was  gloriously  fulfilled.  But  this  birth-day  of  the 
Christian  church  is  in  its  turn  only  the  beginning,  the  type  and 
pledge,  of  a  still  greater  spiritual  harvest  and  a  universal  feast 
of  thanksgiving,  when,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  prophecy,  the 
Holy  Ghost  shall  be  poured  out  on  all  flesh,  all  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  men  shall  walk  in  its  light,  and  God  shall  be  praised 
with  new  tongues  of  fire  for  the  completion  of  his  wonderful 
work  of  redeemino;  love. 


§  17.  jSL  Peter  and  the  Church  among  the  Jeios. 

Compare  the  corresponding  portions  of  the  works  on  the  Apostolic  age  men- 
tioned in  §  8,  and  the  commentaries  on  Acts  iii.-xii.  Also  Thiersch  : 
De  Stephani  protomartyris  oratione  commentatio  exegetica.  Marb.  1849. 
Meterhoff:  Einleitung  in  die  Petrinischen  Schriften.  Hamb.  1835. 
WiNDiscHMANN  (R.  C.) :  Vindiciac  Petrinae.  Piatisb.  1836.  Stexglein 
(R.  C.) :  Ueber  den  25  jahrigen  Aufenthalt  des  heil.  Petrus  in  Rom 
(Tiibinger  Theol.  Quartalschrift,  1840).     Weiss:    Der  Petrinische  Lehr- 

__^.-,  begriff.  Berl.  1856.^ — Schaff:  Jakobus  Alphai  uncnTakobus  der  Bruder 
des  Herrn.     BerC  1842!     ^"^ 

The  church  at  Jerusalem  became  the  mother  of  Jewish  Chris- 
tianity, and  thus  of  all  Christendom.  It  grew  both  inwardly 
and  outwardly  under  the   personal  direction  of  the  apostles; 


62  FIRST   PERIOD.    A.D.    1-100. 

chiefly  of  Peter,  to  whom  the  Lord  had  early  assigned  a  j^ecu- 
liar  prominence  in  the  work  of  building  his  church  on  the  immov- 
able foundation  of  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh."^  The  aj^ostles 
were  assisted  by  a  number  of  presbyters,  and  seven  deacons  or 
persons  appointed  to  care  for  the  poor  and  the  sick.  But  the 
Spirit  moved  in  the  whole  congregation ;  bound  to  no  particular 
office.  The  preaching  of  the  gosjDel,  the  working  of  miracles  in 
the  name  of  Jesus,  and  the  attractive  power  of  a  holy  walk  in 
faith  and  love,  were  the  instruments  of  progress.  The  number 
of  the  Christians,  or,  as  they  at  first  called  themselves,  disciples, 
believers,  brethren,  saints,  soon  rose  to  five  thousand,  who  con- 
tinued steadfastly  under  the  instruction  and  in  the  fellowship  of 
the  apostles,  in  the  daily  worship  of  God  and  celebration  of  the 
holy  Supper  with  their  agajoae  or  love-feasts.  They  felt  them- 
selves to  be  one  family  of  God,  members  of  one  body  under  one 
head,  Jesus  Christ ;  and  this  fraternal  unity  expressed  itself  even 
in  a  community  of  goods  and  in  love-feasts, — an  anticipation,  as 
it  were,  of  an  ideal  state  at  the  end  of  history. 

Yet  even  in  this  primitive  apostolic  communitj^  inward  cor- 
ruption early  appeared,  and  with  it  also  the  severity  of  disci- 
pline and  self-purification,  in  the  terrible  sentence  of  Peter  on 
the  hypocritical  Ananias  and  Sapphira. 

At  first  Christianity  found  fiivor  with  the  people.  Soon,  how- 
ever, it  had  to  encounter  the  same  persecution  as  its  divine 
founder  had  undergone,  but  only,  as  before,  to  transform  it  into 
a  blessing  and  to  grow  thereby. 

The  persecution  was  begun  by  the  sceptical  sect  of  the  Sad- 
ducces,  who  took  offence  at  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ,  the  centre  of  all  the  apostolic  j^reaching. 

When  Stephen,  one  of  the  seven  deacons  of  the  church  at 
Jerusalem,  a  man  full  of  faith  and  zeal,  the  forerunner  of  the  apostle 
Paul,  boldly  assailed  the  perverse  and  obstinate  spirit  of  Judaism, 
and  declared  the  approaching  downfall  of  the  Mosaic  economy, 
the  Pharisees  also  made  common  cause  with  the  Sadducees  against 

»  Comp.  ilatt.  xvi.  10-19. 


§    17.      ST.    PETER  AND   THE   CHURCH   AMOXG   THE   JEWS.      63 

the  gospel.  Thus  began  the  emancij^ation  of  Christianity  from  the 
temple-worship  of  Judaism,  with  which  it  had  till  then  remained 
at  least  outwardly  connected.  Stephen  himself  was  fidsely 
accused  of  blaspheming  Moses,  and  after  a  remarkable  address  in 
his  own  defence,  he  was  stoned  by  a  mob  (a.d.  37),  and  thus 
became  the  worthy  leader  of  the  sacred  host  of  martyrs,  whose 
blood  was  thenceforth  to  fertilize  the  soil  of  the  church.  Frt>m 
the  blood  of  his  martyrdom  soon  sprang  the  great  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  now  his  bitterest  persecutor,  and  an  eye-witness  of  his 
heroism  and  of  the  glory  of  Christ  in  his  dying  face. 

The  stoning  of  Stephen  was  the  signal  for  a  general  persecution, 
and  thus  at  the  same  time  for  the  spread  of  Christianity  over  all 
Palestine  and  the  region  around.  And  it  was  soon  followed  by 
the  conversion  of  Cornelius  of  Cesarea,  which  opened  the  door 
for  the  mission  to  the  Gentiles. 

After  some  seven  years  of  rejDOse  the  church  at  Jerusalem 
suffered  a  new  persecution  under  king  Herod  Agrippa  (a.d.  -i-i). 
James  the  elder,  the  brother  of  John,  was  beheaded.  Peter  was 
imprisoned  and  condemned  to  the  same  fate ;  but  he  was  mira- 
culously liberated,  and  then  forsook  Jerusalem,  leaving  the 
church  to  the  care  of  James  the  "  brother  of  the  Lord."  Euse- 
bius  supposed  that  he  went  at  that  early  period  to  Eome.  But 
the  book  of  Acts  (xii.  17)  says  only:  "He  departed,  and  went 
into  another  place." 

Afterwards  we  find  this  apostle  again  in  Jerusalem  at  the 
apostolic  council;'  then  at  Antioch,  where  he  came  into  tempo- 
rary collision  with  Paul  ;*  then  upon  missionary  tours;'  perhaps 
among  the  dispersed  Jews  in  Asia  Minor,  to  whom  he  addressed 
his  epistles.*  Of  a  residence  of  Peter  in  Eome  the  New  Testa- 
ment contains  no  certain  trace,  unless,  as  the  church  fathers  and 
many  of  the  best  modern  expositors  think,  Eome  is  intended  by 
the  Babylon  mentioned  in  1  Pet.  v.  13.  The  entire  silence  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  c.  28,  respecting  Peter,  of  the  epistle  of 
Paul  to  the  Eomans,  and  the  epistles  written  by  that  apostle  from. 

'  A.D.  50:  Acts  xv.  ^  Gal.  ii.  11  sqq.         ^  1  Cor.  ix.  5.         "  1  Pet.  i.  U 


64  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

Eorae  during  his  imprisonment  tliere,  in  "whicli  Peter  is  not  once 
named  in  the  salutations,  is  decisive  proof  that  Peter  was  not  in 
that  city  during  most  of  the  time  between  the  years  57  and  63. 
But  the  uniform  tradition  of  the  eastern  and  western  churches 
is,  that  he  preached  the  gospel  in  Eome,  and  suffered  martyrdom 
there  in  the  Neronian  persecution  (a.d.  64 ;  according  to  others, 
67  or  68).  So  say  Ignatius  of  Antioch,  Dionysius  of  Corinth, 
Irenaeus  of  Lyons,  Caius  of  Rome,  in  the  second  century ; 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  Origen,  Hippolytus,  Tertullian,  in  the 
third ;  Lactantius,  Eusebius,  Jerome,  and  others  in  the  fourth. 
However  these  testimonies  from  various  men  and  countries  may 
differ  in  particular  circumstances,  they  can  only  be  accounted  for 
on  the  supposition  of  some  fact  at  the  bottom  ;  for  they  were  pre- 
vious to  any  use  or  abuse  of  this  tradition  for  hierarchical  pur- 
poses. But  the  time  of  Peter's  arrival  in  Rome,  and  the  length 
of  his  residence  there,  cannot  possibly  be  ascertained.  The 
above-mentioned  dates  of  the  Acts  and  of  Paul's  epistles  allow 
him  only  ji^ short  period  of  labor  there  ;  and  the  subsequent  state- 
ment of  Eusebius  and  Jerome  respecting  a  twenty  or  twenty -five 
years'  episcopate  of  Peter  in  Rome,  rests  unquestionably  on  a 
great  chronological  mistake. 

The  cruel  persecution,  in  which  Peter  was  crucified  (head  down- 
wards, according  to  tradition),  and  Paul  was  beheaded,  broke  out 
soon  after  the  terrible  conflagration,  which  in  July,  64,  accord- 
ing to  Tacitus,  laid  half  of  Rome  in  ashes.  Nero,  branded  in  his- 
tory as  a  moral  monster,  most  probably  himself  produced  this 
horrible  spectacle,  for  his  own  entertainment,  to  represent  the 
burning  of  Troy ;  but  he  charged  the  incendiarism  on  the  liated 
Christians,  and  so  freely  exposed  them  to  the  popular  fury,  that 
according  to  the  description  of  the  same  heathen  historian,  some 
were  crucified,  others  were  sewed  uji  in  the  skins  of  wild  beasts  and 
thrown  to  dogs,  and  others  were  smeared  Avith  ])itcli  and  burnt 
for  torches  in  the  garden  of  the  emperor  on  the  Vatican  hill ! 
The  infernal  tragedy  wound  uj^  with  a  grand  military  procession, 
in  which  Nero  fissured  as  charioteer. 

After  Peter,  James,  called  the  brother  of  the  Lonl,  also  the 


§   17.      ST.   PETER  AND   THE   CHURCH   AMONG   THE   JEWS.    65 

Just,  stands  most  prominent  in  the  cliurcli  of  the  circumcision. 
After  the  flight  of  Peter  (a.d.  44),  he  presided  as  bishop  over  the 
chiirch  at  Jerusalem  until  his  martyrdom.  He  was  a  still  more 
strict  Jewish  Christian  than  his  predecessor,  who,  after  the  con- 
version of  Cornehus  and  the  apostoHc  council,  leaned  towards 
the  Gentile  Christian  views,  and  stood  between  James  and  Paul. 
James  is  described  by  Hegesippus  as  the  ideal  of  a  Jewish  saint, 
xmiting  the  most  scrupulous  observance  of  the  ceremonial  and 
moral  law  with  a  decided  faith  in  Christ,  "  the  Lord  of  glory." 
Of  all  the  apostles  and  first  disciples,  he  was  best  fitted  to  con- 
nect the  Jewish  economy  with  the  Christian  in  that  critical  time 
of  the  approaching  judgment  of  the  holy  city,  and  to  lead  the 
disciples  of  Moses  to  Christ.  But  the  Pharisees  finally  threw 
him  down  from  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple  and  stoned  him,  after 
he  had  prayed,  like  his  Master  on  the  cross :  "I  pray  the  Lord, 
God,  Father,  forgive  them;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 
According  to  Hegesippus,  he  died  shortly  before  the  destruction 
of  the  temple;  but  according  to  Josephus,  some  years  earlier,. 
A.D.  62. 

Symeon,  a  cousin  of  Jesus,  was  elected  successor  of  James 
after  the  destruction  of  the  holy  city,  and  died  as  a  martyr  under 
Trajan,  at  the  great  age  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  years.  The 
next  thirteen  bishops  of  Jerusalem,  who  came,  however,  in  rajDid 
succession,  were  likewise  of  Jewish  descent.  Throughout  this 
period  the  church  at  Jerusalem  preserved  its  strongly  Israelit- 
ish  type,  but  joined  with  it  "the  genuine  knowledge  of  Christ," 
and  stood  in  communion  with  the  catholic  church,  from  which 
the  Ebionites,  as  heretical  Jewish  Christians,  were  excluded. 
After  the  line  of  the  fifteen  circumcised  bishops  had  run  out, 
and  Jerusalem  was  a  second  time  laid  waste  under  Adrian,  the 
mass  of  the  Jewish  Christians  gradually  merged  in  the  Greek 
church. 

Most  of  the  twelve  apostles,  respecting  whose  lives  and  for- 
tunes the  book  of  Acts  is  silent,  labored  at  first  in  Palestine,  and 
afterwards  probably  among  the  Jews  of  the  dispersion  to  the 
utmost  limits  of  the  Eoman  empire.     Thus  tradition  assigns  to 

5 


66  FIEST  PERIOD.   A.D.    1-100. 

Thaddeus  Edessa,  as  the  field  of  liis  missionary  work  and  martyr- 
dom ;  to  Thomas,  Parthia ;  to  Andrew,  Scythia ;  to  Bartholo- 
mew, India.  It  is  certain  that  the  ancient  churches  in  Syria  and 
Kurdistan,  in  Egypt  and  Ethiopia,  bear  to  this  day  rather  the 
Jewish-Christian  stamp,  than  the  Gentile-Christian  or  Pauline. 

St.  Mark,  the  evangelist  and  companion  of  Peter,  is  made  by 
a  credible  tradition  the  founder  of  the  church  of  Alexandria,  the 
centre  of  the  christianization  of  Egypt, 

§  18.  Preparation  for  the  Mission  to  the  Gentiles. 
The  planting  of  the  church  among  the  Gentiles  is  mainly  the 
work  of  Paul ;    but  Providence  prepared   the  way  for  it  by 
several  steps,  before  this  apostle  entered  upon  his  sublime  mis- 
sion. 

1.  By  the  conversion  of  those  half-Gentiles  and  bitter  enemies 
of  the  Jews,  the  Samaritans,  under  the  preaching  and  baptism 
of  Philip  the  evangelist,  one  of  the  seven  deacons  of  Jerusalem, 
and  under  the  confirming  instruction  of  the  apostles  Peter  and 
John,^  the  gospel  found  ready  entrance  into  Samaria,  as  had 
been  prophetically  hinted  by  the  Lord  in  the  conversation  at 
Jacob's  well.^  But  there  we  meet  also  the  first  heretical  perver- 
sion of  Christianity  by  Simon  Magus,  whose  hypocrisy  and 
attempt  to  degrade  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  received  from 
Peter  a  terrible  rebuke.  (Hence  the  term  simony  for  sordid 
traffic  in  church  offices  and  dignities.)  This  encounter  of  the 
prince  of  the  apostles  with  the  arch-heretic  was  regarded  in  the 
ancient  church,  and  fancifully  represented,  as  typifying  the  rela- 
tion of  ecclesiastical  orthodoxy  to  deceptive  heresy. 

2.  Somewhat  later  (between  37  and  40),  occurred  the  conver- 
sion of  the  centurion,  Cornelius  of  Caesarea,  a  pious  proselyte  of 
the  gate,  whom  Peter,  in  consequence  of  a  special  revelation, 
received  into  the  communion  of  the  Christian  church  directly  by 
baptism,  without  circumcision.  This  bold  step  the  apostle  had 
to  vindicate  to  the  strict  Jewish  Christians  in  Jerusalem,  who 
thought  circumcision  a  condition  of  salvation,  and  Judaism  the 

*  Acts  viii.  '  John  iv 


§  19.     ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHURCH  AMONG  THE  GENTILES.     67 

only  way  to  Cliristianity.^     Thus  Peter  laid  tlie  foundation  also 
of  tlie  Grentile-Cliristian  cliurcli. 

3.  Still  more  important  was  the  rise  at  about  the  same  time  of 
the  church  at  Antioch,  the  capital  of  Syria.  This  congregation, 
formed  under  the  influence  of  the  Hellenist  Barnabas  of  Cyprus 
and  Paul  of  Tarsus,  seems  to  have  consisted  from  the  first  of  con- 
verted heathens  and  Jews.  It  thus  became  the  mother  of  Gentile 
Christendom,  as  Jerusalem  was  the  mother  and  centre  of  Jewish. 
In  Antioch,  too,  the  name  "  Christian  "  first  appeared,^  which 
was  soon  everywhere  adopted  by  the  disciples,  as  well  denoting 
their  nature  and  mission  as  the  followers  of  Christ,  the  divine- 
human  prophet,  priest,  and  king. 

§  19.  St.  Paul  and  the  CJiurch  among  the  Gentiles. 
I.  The  second  part  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  Epistles  of  Paul 

II.  Pearson:  Annales Paulini.  Lond.  1688.  Palet:  Horae PauUnae,  or,  The 
Truth  of  the  Scripture  History  of  Paul  evinced  by  a  comparison  of 
the  Epistles,  which  bear  his  name,  with  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and 
with  one  another.  Lond.  1790  (and  frequently  since).  Lord  Lyttle- 
ton:  Conversion  of  St.  Paul.  Lond.  1790.  Hemsen:  Der  Apostel 
Paulus.  Grott.  1830.  Usteri  :  Entwicklung  des  PauUnischen  LehrbegriflFs. 
Ziir.  6th  ed.  1851.  Baur:  Paulus.  Tiib.  1847.  Wieseler:  Chrono- 
logic des  Apostol.  Zeitalters.  Gott.  1848.  Contbeare  &  Howson: 
The  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  Lond.  1853.  2  vols.,  and  N.  York, 
1854.  2nd  ed.  Lond.  1856.  Ad.  Morton:  Der  Apostel  Paulus  (five 
D'scourses  from  the  French).  Elberf.  1854.  H.  Ewald:  Die  Send- 
schreiben  des  Apostels  Paulus  iibersetzt  und  erklart.    G-ott.  1857. 

Comp.  also  the  Commentaries  on  the  several  Epistles  of  Paul,  especially 
those  of  Tholuch,  Olsliausen,  Fritzschej  Be  Wette,  Meyer,  Alforcl,  Hodge, 
the  Commentaries  on  the  second  part  of  Acts  by  Baumgarten,  Alexander, 
Hachett,  etc.,  and  the  relevant  parts  of  Neander,  Thiersch,  Lange,  Schaff, 
on  the  Apost.  Age. 

St.  Paul,  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Grentiles,  who  decided  the 
victory  of  Christianity  as  a  universal  religion,  and  who  labored 
more,  both  in  word  and  deed,  than  all  his  colleagues,  was  of 
strictly  Jewish  parentage,  but  was  born  a  Eoman  citizen  in  the 
renowned  Grecian  commercial  and  literary  city  of  Tarsus,  in  the 
'  Acts  X.  and  xL  '  Acts  xi.  26. 


6S  FIKST  TERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

province  of  Cilicia.  lie  received  a  learned  Jewish  education  in 
the  school  of  the  Pharisean  Rabbi,  Gamaliel ;  not  remaining  an 
entire  stranger  to  Greek  literature,  as  his  style,  his  dialectic  method, 
his  allusions  to  heathen  religion  and  philosophy,  and  his  occa- 
sional quotations  from  heathen  poets  show.  Thus,  a  "Hebrew 
of  the  Ilebrews'"  yet  at  the  same  time  a  native  Hellenist,  and  a 
Roman  citizen,  he  combined  in  himself,  so  to  speak,  the  three 
great  nationalities  of  the  ancient  world,  and  was  endowed  with 
all  the  natural  qualifications  for  a  universal  apostleship.  He 
could  argue  with  the  Pharisees  as  a  son  of  Abraham,  of 
the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  as  a  disciple  of  the  renowned  Gamaliel, 
surnamed  "  the  Glory  of  the  Law,"  and  as  one  of  the  straitest  of 
their  sect.  He  could  address  the  Greeks  in  their  own  beautiful 
tongue,  and  with  the  force  of  their  strong  logic.  Clothed  with 
the  dignity  and  majesty  of  the  Roman  people,  he  could  travel 
safely  over  the  whole  empire  with  the  watchword :  Civis  Romanus 
sum. 

By  his  extraordinary  talents  and  energy  of  character  Saul  of 
Tarsus  soon  rose  to  eminence  among  the  Jewish  divines;  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  persecution  against  the  Christians, 
whom  he  hated  as  apostates  from  the  divine  religion  of  the  Old 
Testament;  and  labored  in  honest  and  ignorant  zeal,  yet  not 
without  heavy  guilt,  to  root  out  their  name  from  the  earth. 

But  when,  not  content  with  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen,  he 
had  obtained  full  power  from  the  Sanhedrim,  and  "  breathing  out 
threatenings  and  slaughter  against  the  disciples  of  Jesus,"  had 
started  for  the  Syrian  city  of  Damascus,  he  was  suddenly  arrested 
by  the  hand  of  divine  grace,  and  brought  out  of  darkness  into 
the  marvellous  light  of  the  gosjjel  (a.d.  37).  That  Jesus,  whom, 
in  the  persons  of  the  disciples,  he  fanatically  persecuted,  appeared 
from  his  heavenly  glory,  and  transformed  the  raging  Saul  into 
the  praying  Paul,  the  self-righteous  Pharisee  into  the  humble 
Christian,  the  most  dangerous  enemy  of  the  church  into  her  most 
zealous  friend.  He  yielded  in  true  repentance  to  this  over- 
whelming proof  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  and  in  childlike 

'  Phil,  ill  5. 


§  19.      ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHUECH  AMONG  THE  GENTILES.    69 

faith  in  Mm  lie  found  forgiveness,  peace,  and  tlie  power  of  holi- 
ness, which  he  had  vainly  sought  in  the  way  of  the  law.  The 
divine-human  person  and  the  atoning  work  of  Christ  became  to 
him  "  wisdom  and  righteousness  and  sanctification  and  redemp- 
tion." Henceforth  he  devoted  his  fruitful  mind,  his  zealous 
heart,  and  his  energetic  will  wholly  to  the  service  of  Christ,  and 
in  that  service  he  found  his  freedom,  his  happiness,  and  his 
glory. 

The  conversion  of  Paul  was  also  his  call  to  the  apostolic  office ; 
and  the  suddenness  of  his  change,  the  greatness  of  the  divine 
mercy  to  him,  the  bold  contrast  between  his  new  life  and  his  old, 
all  eminently  fitted  him  to  preach  the  unmerited  grace  of  Grod 
and  justification  by  faith,  and  to  take  the  lead  in  the  conversion 
of  the  Gentiles. 

But  he  did  not  enter  fully  on  his  apostolic  work,  until,  seven 
years  later,  he  received  a  still  clearer  revelation  in  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem.'  The  intervening  time,  after  a  brief  intercourse  with 
Ananias  and  other  Christians  of  Damascus,  he  spent  partl}^  in 
retired  prejjaration  in  the  Arabian  desert,  partly  in  subordmate 
labors  as  evangelist  and  assistant  to  his  senior  Barnabas  in  build- 
ing up  the  church  at  Antioch.  The  Jewish  apostles  seem  to 
have  suspected  at  first  the  genuineness  of  his  conversion,''  and  not 
to  have  put  full  confidence  in  him  till  the  fruits  of  his  labors 
among  the  heathen  placed  his  divine  call  and  his  peculiar  mis- 
sion beyond  all  doubt. 

Glance  a  moment  at  the  general  character  of  his  grand  labors 
for  the  propagation  of  Christianity.  Though  endowed  with  the 
authority  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  still  took  from  the  church  at 
Antioch  a  solemn  commission  to  preach  to  the  Gentiles.^  He 
made  this  mother-church  of  Gentile  Christendom  the  centre  of 
his  missionary  tours.  He  followed  in  general  the  current  of 
history,  of  commerce,  and  of  civilization,  from  east  to  west,  from 
Syria  to  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  and  Italy.  In  the  larger  and  more 
influential  cities,' Antioch,  Ephesus,  Corinth,  Rome,  he  resided  a 
considerable  time.     From  these  salient  points  he  sent  the  gospel 

'  Acts  xxii.  17-21  "  Actsix.  26.  ■"  Acts  xiii.  2,  3. 


70  FIRST  PERIOD.    A.D.    1-100. 

bv  liis  pupils  and  fellow-laborers  into  the  surrounding  towns  and 
villages.  Wliere  there  was  a  synagogue,  be  always  addressed 
bimself  first  to  tbe  Jews  and  proselytes,  taking  up  the  regular 
lessons  of  tbe  Old  Testament  scriptures,  and  demonstrating 
tbeir  fulfilment  in  Jesus  of  Nazaretb.  But  almost  uniformly  be 
found  tbe  balf-Jews,  or  proselytes  of  tbe  gate,  and  tbe  beatben, 
more  open  to  tbe  gospel  tban  bis  own  bretbren ;  and  bis  congre- 
gations were  generally  a  mixture  of  botb  Jews  and  Gentiles.  In 
noble  self-denial  be  earned  bis  subsistence  witb  bis  own  bands, 
as  a  tent-maker,  tbat  be  migbt  not  be  burdensome  to  bis  congre- 
gations (composed  mostly  of  tbe  poorer  classes),  tbat  be  migbt 
preserve  bis  independence,  stop  tbe  moutbs  of  bis  enemies,  and 
testify  bis  gratitude  to  tbe  infinite  mercy  of  tbe  Lord,  wbo  bad 
called  bim  from  bis  beadlong,  fanatical  career  of  persecution  to 
tbe  office  of  an  apostle  of  free  grace.  Only  as  an  exception  did 
be  receive  gifts  from  tbe  Christians  at  Pbilipj^i,  wbo  were  pecu- 
liarly dear  to  bim ;  tbougb  be  repeatedly  enjoins  upon  tbe 
cburcbes  to  care  for  tbe  temporal  support  of  tbeir  teachers  wbo 
break  to  them  tbe  bread  of  eternal  life.  Of  tbe  innumerable 
difficulties  and  dangers  and  sufferings,  which  be  encountered 
witb  Jews,  heathens,  and  false  brethren,^  we  can  hardly  form  an 
adequate  idea ;  for  the  book  of  Acts  is  only  a  summary  record. 
But  by  the  grace  of  God,  which  was  sufficient  for  bim,  be  more 
than  conquered  them,  and  laid  all  tbe  glory  at  the  foot  of  the 
cross. 

Luke,  his  faithful  companion,  mentions  three  great  missionary 
journeys  of  tbe  Gentile  apostle.  But  Paul  must  have  made 
many  excursions  besides  ;  for  he  preached  tbe  gospel  in  all  tbe 
countries  between  Jerusalem  and  Illyria  on  the  coast  of  the 
Adriatic,  everywhere  seeking  new  fields  of  labor,  where  Christ 
was  not  yet  known,  tbat  be  migbt  not  build  on  any  other  man's 
foundation." 

1.  On  his  first  great  tour  tbe  apostle  set  out,  with  Barnabas 
and  Mark,  in  tbe  year  45,  by  tbe  special  direction  of  tbe  Holy 
Ghost  through  the  prophets  of  tbe  congregation  at  Antiocb.     He 

'  Conip.  1  Cor.  xi.  23  sqq.  '  Rom.  xv.  19,  20. 


§    19.     ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHURCH  AMONG  THE  GENTILES.    71 

traversed  tlie  island  of  Cyprus  and  several  provinces  of  Asia 
Minor.  The  conversion  of  the  Roman  proconsul,  Sergius  Paulus, 
at  Paphos ;  the  rebuke  and  punishment  of  the  Jewish  sorcerer, 
Elymas ;  the  marked  success  of  the  gos|)el  in  Pisidia,  and  the 
bitter  opposition  of  the  unbelieving  Jews  ;  the  miraculous  heal- 
ing of  a  cripple  at  Lystra;  the  idolatrous  worship  there  offered 
to  Paul  and  Barnabas  by  the  superstitious  heathens,  and  its  sud- 
den change  into  hatred  against  them  as  enemies  of  the  gods ;  the 
stoning  of  the  missionaries,  their  escape  from  death,  and  their 
successful  return  to  Antioch,  are  the  leading  incidents  of  this  tour. 

2.  After  the  apostolic  council  at  Jerusalem  and  the  temporary 
adjustment  of  the  difference  between  the  Jewish  and  Grentile 
branches  of  the  church,  Paul  undertook,  in  the  year  51,  a  second 
great  journey,  which  decided  the  Christianization  of  Europe. 
He  took  Silas  for  his  companion.  Having  first  visited  his  old 
churches,  he  proceeded,  with  the  help  of  Silas  and  the  young 
convert  Timothy,  to  establish  new  ones  through  the  pro^dnces 
of  Phrygia  and  Galatia,  till,  in  answer  to  the  Macedonian  cry : 
"Come  over  and  help  us!"  he  crossed  from  Troas  into  Greece. 

In  Greece  he  preached  the  gospel  with  great  success,  first  in 
Philippi,  where  he  converted  the  purple-dealer,  Lydia,  and  the 
jailor,  and  was  imprisoned  with  Silas,  but  miraculously  deli- 
vered and  honorably  released;  then  in  Thessalonica,  where  he 
was  persecuted  by  the  Jews,  but  left  a  flourishing  church;  in 
Beroea,  where  the  converts  show^ed  exemplary  zeal  in  searching 
the  Scriptures;  in  Athens,  where  he  reasoned  with  the  Stoic 
and  Epicurean  pliilosophers,  and  declared  on  the  Areopagus 
"the  unknown  God;"  and  lastly  in  Corinth.  In  this  city,  the 
commercial  centre  between  east  and  west,  a  flourishing  seat  of 
wealth  and  culture,  but  of  corruption  too,  the  apostle  spent 
eighteen  months,  and  under  almost  insurmountable  difficulties 
he  built  up  a  church,  which  exhibited  all  the  virtues  and  all  the 
faults  of  the  Grecian  character  under  the  influence  of  the  gospel, 
and  which  he  honored  with  two  of  his  most  important  epistles. 
In  the  spring  of  54  he  returned  by  way  of  Ephesus,  Caesarea,  and 
Jerusalem  to  Antioch. 


72  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

3.  Towards  the  close  of  the  same  year  Paul  went  to  Ephesus, 
and  in  this  renowned  capital  of  proconsular  Asia  and  of  the  wor- 
ship of  Diana,  he  fixed  for  three  years  the  centre  of  his  missionary 
work ;  then  visited  his  churches  in  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  and 
remained  three  months  more  in  Corinth  and  the  vicinity.  Dur- 
ing this  period  he  wrote  the  epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  Galatians, 
and  Romans. 

4.  In  the  spring  of  58  he  journeyed,  for  the  fifth  and  last  time,  to 
Jerusalem,  by  way  of  Philippi,  Troas,  Miletus  (where  he  deli- 
vered his  affecting  valedictory  to  the  Ephesian  elders).  Tyre,  and 
Caesarea,  to  carry  to  the  poor  brethren  in  Judaea  a  contribution 
from  the  Cliristians  of  Greece,  and  by  this  token  of  gratitude  and 
love  to  cement  the  two  branches  of  the  apostolic  church  more 
firmly  together.  But  some  fanatical  Jews,  who  bitterly  hated 
him  as  an  apostate  and  a  demagogue,  raised  an  uproar  against 
him  at  Pentecost ;  charged  him  with  profaning  the  temple,  be- 
cause he  had  taken  into  it  the  Greek,  Trophimus;  dragged  him 
out  of  the  sanctuary,  lest  they  should  defile  it  with  blood ;  and 
would  undoubtedly  have  killed  him,  had  not  Claudius  Lysias, 
the  Eoman  tribune,  who  lived  near  by,  come  promptly  with  his 
soldiers  to  the  spot.  This  officer  rescued  Paul  from  the  mob, 
set  him  the  next  day  before  the  Sanhedrim,  and  after  a  tumultu- 
ous and  fruitless  session  of  the  council,  and  the  discovery  of  a 
plot  against  his  life,  sent  him,  with  a  strong  military  guard  and 
a  certificate  of  innocence,  to  the  procurator  Felix,  in  Caesarea. 

Here  the  apostle  was  confined  two  whole  years  (58-60),  await- 
ing his  trial  before  the  Sanhedrim,  uncondemned,  occasionally 
speaking  before  Felix,  apparently  treated  with  comparative 
mildness,  visited  by  the  Christians,  and  in  some  way  not  known 
to  us  promoting  the  kingdom  of  God. 

After  the  accession  of  the  new  and  better  procurator,  Festus, 
Paul,  as  a  Iloman  citizen,  a])pcaled  to  the  tribunal  of  Caesar,  and 
thus  opened  the  way  to  the  fulfilment  of  his  long-cherished  de- 
sire to  preach  the  Saviour  of  the  world  in  the  world's  metropolis. 
Ilaving  once  more  testified  his  innocence,  and  spoken  for  Christ 
in  a  masterly  defence  before  Festus,  King  Ilerod  Agrippa  II.,  his 


§  19.     ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHURCH  AMONG  THE  GENTILES.    73 

guests,  and  tlie  most  distingiiislied  men  of  Caesarea,  he  was 
sent  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  60  to  the  emperor.  After  a  stormy 
voyage  and  a  shipwreck,  which  detained  the  vessel  over  winter 
at  Malta,  the  apostle,  with  a  few  faithful  companions,  reached 
Rome  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year. 

Here  he  spent  at  least  two  years  in  easy  confinement,  awaiting 
the  decision  of  his  case,  and  surrounded  by  friends  and  fellow- 
laborers.  He  preached  the  gospel  to  the  soldiers  of  the  imperial 
body-guard,  who  attended  him ;  wrote  letters  to  his  distant 
churches  in  Asia  Minor  and  Greece;  watched  over  all  their 
s|3iritual  affairs ;  and  completed  in  bonds  and  imprisonment  his 
apostolic  fidehty  to  the  church. 

5.  With  the  second  year  of  Paul's  imprisonment  in  Rome  the 
account  of  the  Acts  breaks  off.  As  to  the  result  of  the  trial  and 
the  close  of  the  apostle's  life  we  are  in  the  dark.  A  subsequent 
but  not  sufficiently  clear  and  reliable  tradition  says,  that  he  was 
acquitted  on  the  charge  of  the  Sanhedrim,  and  after  travelling 
again  in  the  East,  and  also  into  Spain,  was  a  second  time  im- 
prisoned in  Rome.  This  account  would  relieve  many  difficulties 
in  his  pastoral  epistles ;  but  is  on  other  grounds  very  improbable. 
Thus  much,  however,  the  unanimous  testimony  of  antiquity 
makes  certain :  that  Paul  suffered  martyrdom  in  Rome  (during 
the  Neronian  persecution,  or  shortly  before),  and  that,  as  a 
Roman  citizen,  he  was  put  to  death  by  the  sword,  not,  like  Peter, 
by  the  cross.  His  readiness  for  this  sealing  act  of  devotion  to 
Christ  he  himself  expresses  in  his  last  epistle^  in  the  triumphant 
words :  "  I  have  fought  the  good  fight ;  I  have  finished  my  course  ; 
I  have  kept  the  faith.  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  the 
crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge, 
shall  give  me  at  that  day  ;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  to  all  them 
also,  that  love  his  appearing." 

Thus  ended  the  earthly  course  of  this  great  teacher  of  nations, 
this  apostle  of  justifying  faith  and  of  evangehcal  freedom.  But 
he  yet  speaks  in  his  wonderful  epistles,  which  far  exceed  in  value 
all  the  classical  literature  put  together,  and  are  to  this  day,  as 

»  2Tim.iv.  T,  8. 


74  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.    1-100. 

they  have  been  for  eigliteen  centuries  past,  an  inexhaustible  source 
of  instruction  and  comfort,  the  richest  mine  of  the  doctrines  of 
free  grace,  an  armory  against  lifeless  formalism  and  mechanical 
obedience  to  the  letter,  and  the  mightiest  lever  of  evangelical 
reform  and  progress  in  the  church. 

§  20.   Collision  and  Reconciliation  of  Jewish  and  Gentile 
Christianity. 

All  the  Christians  of  the  first  generation  were  converts  from 
Judaism  or  heathenism.  It  could  not  be  expected  that  they 
should  suddenly  lose  the  influences  of  opposite  kinds  of  train- 
ing and  the  differences  of  their  religious  views,  and  blend  at 
once  in  unity.  It  must  take  an  intercommunion  of  several  gene- 
rations to  accomplish  such  a  union.  Hence  the  difference  be- 
tween Jewish  and  Gentile  Christianity  throughout  the  apostolic 
age,  more  or  less  visible  in  all  departments  of  ecclesiastical  life, 
in  missions,  doctrine,  worship,  and  government.  At  the  head 
of  the  one  division  stood  Peter,  the  apostle  of  the  circumcision ; 
at  the  head  of  the  other,  Paul,  to  whom  was  intrusted  the  apos- 
tleship  of  the  uncircumcision.^  In  another  form  the  same 
difference  even  yet  appears  between  the  different  branches  of 
Christendom.  The  Catholic  church  is  Jewish-Christian  or  Petrine 
in  its  character ;  the  evangelical  is  equally  Gentile  or  Pauline. 
And  the  individual  members  of  these  bodies  lean  to  one  or  the 
other  of  these  leading  types. 

The  relation  between  these  two  fundamental  forms  of  apostolic 
Christi^anity  is  in  general  that  of  authority  and  freedom,  law  and 
gospel,  the  conservative  and  the  progressive,  the  objective  and 
the  subjective.  These  antithetic  elements  are  not  of  necessity 
mutually  exclusive.  They  are  mutually  complemental,  and  for 
perfect  life  they  must  exist  in  union.  But  in  reality  they  often 
run  to  extremes,  and  then  of  course  fall  into  irreconcilable  con- 
tradiction. Exclusive  Jewish  Christianity  sinks  into  Ebionism ; 
exclusive  Gentile  Christianity  into  Gnosticism. 

The  Jewish  converts  at  first  very  naturally  adhered  as  closely 

'  Gal.  il  7-9. 


§   20.      JEWISH   AND   GENTILE   CHRISTIANITY.  75 

as  possible  to  tlie  sacred  traditions  of  their  fathers.  They  could 
not  believe  that  the  rehgion  of  the  Old  Testament,  revealed  by 
God  himself,  should  pass  away.  They  indeed  regarded  Jesus  as 
the  Saviour  of  Gentiles  as  well  as  Jews ;  but  they  thought  Juda- 
ism the  necessary  introduction  to  Christianity,  circumcision  and 
the  observance  of  the  whole  Mosaic  law  the  sole  condition  of  an 
interest  in  the  Messianic  salvation.  And,  offensive  as  Judaism 
was,  rather  than  attractive,  to  the  heathen,  tliis  principle  would 
have  utterly  precluded  the  conversion  of  the  mass  of  the  Gentile 
world.  The  apostles  themselves  were  at.  first  trammelled  by  this 
Judaistic  prejudice,  till  taught  better  by  the  special  revelation  to 
Peter  before  the  conversion  of  Cornelijis.^ 

But  even  after  the  baptism  of  the  uncircumcised  centurion,  and 
Peter's  defence  of  it  before  the  church  of  Jerusalem,^  the  old 
leaven  still  wrought  in  many  Jewish  Christians,  especially  such 
as  had  belonged  to  the  bigoted  sect  of  the  Pharisees.  These  in- 
sisted on  the  observance  of  the  whole  ceremonial  law  as  necessary 
to  salvation ;  while  the  more  liberal  Jewish  converts,  with  the 
Gentile,  considered  living  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  sufiicient.  This 
difference  of  opinion  produced  a  feeling  between  the  two  leading 
churches  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch,  which  became  the  more 
dangerous  as  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles  advanced  under 
Paul,  and  threatened  to  cast  Jewish  Christendom  into  the  shade. 
Envy  and  jealousy  united  with  religious  prejudice,  and  the  infant 
church  was  threatened,  in  only  the  second  decennary  of  its  exist- 
ence, with  a  division  into  two  hostile  parties. 

To  avert  this  calamity,  the  apostles,  elders,  and  brethren  held 
in  Jerusalem,  in  the  year  50,  a  council,  which  succeeded  in  har- 
monizing the  conflicting  views.^  At  this  first  ecclesiastical  synod, 
the  point  in  controversy,  the  import  of  the  Mosaic  law,  or,  in  a 
more  general  view,  the  relation  of  Christianity  to  Judaism  and 
heathenism,  was  privately  and  publicly  discussed  by  the  repre- 
sentatives of  both  parties  in  the  church.  The  Jewish  apostles, 
Peter  and  James,  and  the  Gentile  apostles,  Paul  and  Barnabas, 
agreed  that  faith  in  Christ  is  the  sole  condition  of  salvation ; 
'  Acts  X.  9-16.  '  Acts  xi.  ^  Acts  xv.  and  Gal.  ii. 


76  FIRST   PERIOD,   A.D.    1-100, 

acknowledged,  cacli  party  to  the  other,  the  peculiar  grace  and 
mission  intrusted  to  it  by  the  common  Lord;  and  exchanged 
the  hand  of  fraternal  fellowship.  The  uncircumcised  Gentile 
Christians,  on  the  motion  of  James,  who,  as  head  of  the  church 
of  Jerusalem,  probably  presided  in  the  council,  were  recognised 
as  full  members  of  tlie  Christian  church,  but  on  condition  of 
their  abstaining  from  certain  practices  particularly  offensive  to 
pious  Jews,  from  every  form  of  carnal  uncleanness,  from  eating 
meat  offered  to  idols,  and  from  tasting  blood  or  strangled  ani- 
mals. These  three  prohibitions  occur  among  the  so-called  Koa- 
chian  precepts,  and  were  also  laid  on  the  proselytes  of  the  gate. 
The  council  at  the  same  time  published  this  compromise  in  a 
pastoral  letter  to  the  churches,  composed  probably  by  James  ;^ 
and  thus,  by  moderation  and  mutual  concession  m  the  spirit  of 
peace  and  brotherly  love,  the  first  great  controversy  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  was  happily  settled. 

Still  it  must  not  be  supposed,  that  the  difference  between  the 
two  great  divisions  of  the  apostolic  church  thenceforth  entirely 
disappeared.  On  the  contrary,  there  was  yet  a  host  of  Judaizing 
teachers,  who,  appealing  chiefly,  though  without  sufficient  cause, 
to  the  authority  of  James  of  Jerusalem,  continued  to  overvalue 
the  formal  observance  of  the  law,  could  never  rise  to  the  idea  of 
evangelical  freedom,  hated  Paul  as  a  dangerous  apostate  and 
revolutionist,  and  incessantly  endeavored  to  undermine  his 
authority  and  undo  his  work  in  almost  all  his  churches.  Nearly 
every  one  of  his  epistles  bears  witness  to  this  fact,  especially  the 
epistles  to  the  Galatians  and  the  Corinthians.  Against  no  errorists 
does  he  so  often  and  so  earnestly  contend,  as  against  these  narrow- 
minded  pharisaic  Christians,  these  intolerant  slaves  of  the  letter, 
these  "false  brethren"  of  the  circumcision. 

The  temporary  inconsistency  even  of  Peter  at  Antioch,  which 
occurred  after  the  apostolic  council,  and  for  which  he  was  so 
severely  reproved  by  Paul  before  the  assembled  congregation,^ 
shows  how  hard  it  was,  under  certain  circumstances,  even  for  ar 

*  Comp.  tlio  form  of  salutation  {x<iipc^if)  Acts  xv.  2:5  with  James  L  1. 
»  Gal.  ii.  11-21. 


n\. 


§   20.      JEWISH   AND   GENTILE   CHRISTIANITY.  77 

apostle,  to  maintain  his  more  liberal  views  in  tlie  face  of  tlie 
scrupulous  Jewish.  Christians.  But  the  fault  he  committed  on  that 
occasion  being  only  one  of  practice,  not  of  theory,  only  a  weak- 
ness of  character,  not  an  error  in  doctrine,  ]m)ves  nothing  against 
his  inspiration  and  infallibilit}-.  This  collision,  too,  was  of  course 
only  momentary,  and  could  not  long  interrupt  the  harmonious 
cooperation  of  the  apostles.  Paul  mentions  the  infirmity  of  Peter 
to  humble  and  encourage  us ;  and  Peter,  who  here  seems  to  sub- 
mit with  rare  humility  to  be  corrected  by  a  later-called  and  pro- 
bably younger  colleague,  afterwards^  refers  with  touching  self- 
denial  to  the  epistles  of  his  "beloved  brother  Paul,"  in  one  of  1  /  ,^ 
which  his  own  Jblunder  is  recorded.  ,',  J 

The  conflict  of  Jewish  and  Gentile,  or,  if  any  please,  Petrine  /  J"^^^ 
and  Pauline  Christianity,  continued  to  agitate  the  churches,  more   y^riA^i*'^ 
or  less,  till  the  death  of  the  two  leading  apostles ;  since  the  churches  /^-^-t^-sLif^ 
were  composed  mostly  of  a  mixture  of  circumcised  and  uncir- 
cumcised  converts.  .    ,    ^ 

Then  came  the  terrible  judgment  on  stiff-necked,  unbelieving 
Judaism,  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  temple  (a.d.  70), 
according  to  the  express  prediction  of  Christ.*^  This  blasted  for 
the  present  all  hope  of  converting  the  Jewish  nation  in  a  mass, 
and  could  not  but  tell  effectively  on  the  complete  emancipation 
of  the  Christian  Church  from  the  Jewish  economy  thus  rejected 
now  by  God  himself. 

Meanwhile  also  a  new  native  Christian  generation  arose ;  and 
thus  the  greatest  national  and  religious  antagonism  of  the  old 
world  disappeared  in  the  unity  of  the  one  catholic  church  of 
Christ. 

This  third  and  last  stadium  of  the  apostolic  period  occupied 
the  last  thirty  years  of  the  first  century,  and  is  represented  by 
the  apostle  John,  who  outlived  all  his  colleagues,  and  accom- 
panied the  church  to  the  threshold  of  the  second  century.  It 
may  therefore  be  distinguished  from  the  Petrine  and  Pauline,  the 
Jewish-Christian  and  Gentile-Christian  sTadia,  as  the  Johannean  , 
or,  so  to  speak,  the  purely  Christian  age. 

'  2  Pet.  iii.  15.  "  Matt,  xxiv.,  etc. 


78  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.    1-100. 


§  21.  St.  John,  and  the  Last  Stadium  of  the  Apostolic  Period. 

I.  The  Gospel,  Epistles,  and  Revelation  of  John. — Irenaeus  :  Adv.  haer.  II. 

22.  III.  3.  V.  30.  Clemens  Alex.  :  Quis  dives  salvus,  c.  42.  Tertul- 
LiAN :  De  praescr.  c.  36.  Eusebius  :  H.  E.  III.  18-23.  V.  24.  Jerome  : 
Ad  GraL  6.  De  vir.  ill.  c.  9.     Augustine  :  Tract.  224  in  Evang.  Joann. 

II.  Besides  the  relevant  parts  of  the  works  on  the  Apostolic  church  mentioned 

in  §  8,  see  the  Commentaries  on  the  writings  of  John  by  Calvin,  Lampe, 
Liicke,  Olshausen,  Tholuek,  Luthardt,  Diisterdieck,  Meyer,  De  Wette- 
Briickner,  Bloomfield,  Alford,  &c. ;  and  the  works  on  the  Johannean 
type  of  doctrine  by  Frommann,  Leipz.  1839,  Kostlin,  Berl.  1843,  Recss, 
Strassb.  1847,  and  Schmid,  Stuttg.  1853.     (See  Lit.  in  §  22.^ 

Jolin,  the  beloved  disciple  and  bosom  friend  of  Jesus,  the 
great  evangelist  and  seer  of  the  new  covenant,  the  son  of  thun- 
der and  the  apostle  of  love,  contemplative,  reflective,  mystic  in 
spirit,  was,  during  the  first  stadium  of  the  apostolic  church,  cast 
into  the  shade  by  the  practical,  versatile,  organizing  genius  of 
Peter,  but  walked  by  his  side  in  mysterious  silence,  as  if  destined 
for  some  great  work  which  none  of  his  colleagues  could  perform. 
If  Peter  was  appointed  by  the  Lord  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the 
apostolic  church,  and  Paul  to  build  the  main  structure  thereon, 
John,  the  apostle  of  completion,  was  to  erect  the  dome,  whose 
top  should  lose  itself  in  the  glory  of  the  new  heaven. 

His  great  work  was  not  accomplished  till  the  Lord  had  called 
his  older  colleagues  away  from  the  earthly  stage  of  action,  and 
had  condemned  the  obstinate  Jewish  nation  in  the  destruction  of 
their  holy  city.  After  the  martyrdom  of  Paul,  John  entered 
into  the  labors  of  that  apostle  in  Asia  Minor,  and  made  Ephesus 
the  centre  of  his  later  ministry,  from  the  Neronian  persecution 
to  the  end  of  the  first  century.  During  the  second  Koman  per- 
secution under  the  tyrannical  and  suspicious  Domitian,  he  was 
banished  in  the  year  95  to  the  lonely  island  of  Patmos ;  and  here 
received  and  recorded  the  revelation  of  the  struggles  and  vic- 
tories of  the  church  of  Christ,  down  to  the  new  heavens  and 
new  earth. 

After  the  accession  of  Nerva,  A.D.  96,  the  apostle  whom  Jesus 
loved,  returned  to  Ephesus,  and  continued  to  superintend  the 


§   21.     THE   LAST  STADIUil   OF   THE   APOSTOLIC   PERIOD.      79 

congregcations  of  Asia  Minor,  to  combat  false  teachers,  to  rescue 
tlie  lost,  and  to  hold  all  the  churches  together  in  harmony  and 
love.  When  too  weak  to  deliver  long  discourses,  the  venerable 
patriarch  had  himself  carried  to  the  place  of  worship,  and  preached 
the  sum  of  all  Christianity  in  the  old  yet  ever  new  command- 
ment :  "  Little  children,  love  one  another."  Love  was  the  centre 
of  his  theology,  and  the  theme  of  his  life.  The  love  of  God  in 
Christ  is  with  him  the  root  of  all  doctrine ;  the  love  of  the  re- 
deemed for  God  and  one  another,  the  root  of  all  morality.  This 
last  representative  of  j^rimitive  Christianity  died  not  by  violence, 
like  most  of  the  other  apostles,  but  in  the  reign  of  Trajan  (98- 
117)  he  fell  asleep  in  the  arms  of  his  disciples.  A  misapprehen- 
sion of  the  Saviour's  mysterious  words :  "  If  I  will,  that  he  tarry 
till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee?"^  gave  rise  to  the  significant 
legend,  that  John  did  not  die  at  all,  but  is  only  slumbering, 
moving  the.  grave-mound  with  his  breath,  till  the  final  return  of 
the  Lord. 

Asia  Minor  was  at  that  time  the  principal  field  on  which  the 
Christianity  of  Peter  and  Paul  was  develoiDing  itself  against  perse- 
cution without  and  incipient  corruption  within ;  especially  against 
heresy,  now  clothed  in  the  Judaistic  garb  of  a  stifi",  narrow  legal- 
ism and  ritualism,  now  in  the  wild  heathen  dress  of  antinomian- 
ism  and  spiritualism.  St.  John,  originally  an  apostle  of  the 
Jews  and  the  intimate  colleague  of  Peter,  afterwards  the  successor 
of  the  Gentile  apostle  Paul,  but  surviving  both,  and  contempo- 
rary with  the  third  native  Christian  generation,  was  admirably 
qualified  to  sum  up  the  results  of  the  previous  labors,  to  reconcile 
the  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christianity  both  in  theory  and  in  prac- 
tice, to  give  to  the  church  the  unity  of  truth  and  love,  and  to 
secure  it  thus  against  all  enemies  without  or  within.  Through 
his  intimacy  with  the  Lord,  his  religious  depth  and  fervor,  and 
his  large  experience,  he  was  best  fitted  also  to  complete  the  litera- 
ture of  the  New  Testament,  and  especially  to  lead  the  church,  by 
the  purest  and  loftiest  exhibition  of  the  life  of  the  incarnate  Son 
of  God,  to  the  highest  grade  of  knowledge ;  and  thus  at  the  same 

'  John  xxi.  22. 


80  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

time  to  furnisli  the  most  effectual  positive  refutation  of  the  rising 
Ebionistic  and  Gnostic  errors  concerning  the  person  and  work 
of  Christ,  which,  like  the  shades  of  night,  must  fly  before  the  sun 
of  truth. 

The  vigorous  life  of  the  Asiatic  church  in  the  second  century 
bore  witness  to  this  consummating  efficiency  of  John.  But  the 
abiding  and  indestructible  monuments  of  his  labors  are  his  writ- 
ings, in  which  truth  and  love,  earnestness  and  mildness,  power 
and  meekness,  religious  depth  and  childlike  simj^licity,  the  bold- 
ness of  the  eagle  and  the  gentleness  of  the  dove,  are  wonderfully 
blended,  and  through  which  the  Christian  world  enters  daily  into 
the  inmost  sanctuary  of  the  apostolic  theology  and  religion. 


§  22.      UNITY   OF  THE   APOSTOLIC  DOCTRINE.  81 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  APOSTOLIC  THEOLOGY  AND   LITERATURE. 

Christ.  Friedr.  Schmid  :  Biblische  Theologie  des  Neuen  Testaments.  Stuttg. 
1853.  2  vols.  E.  Reuss  :  Histoire  de  la  theologie  chretienne  au  siecle 
apostolique.  Strassb.  1852.  2  vols.  Ldtterbeck  (R.  C.)  :  Die  jST.  T. 
lichen  Lehrbegriffe,  oder  Untersuchungen  iiber  das  Zeitalter  der  Reli- 
gionswende.  Mainz.  1852.  2  vols.  Meissner:  Die  Lehre  der  AposteL 
Leipz.  1856.  Gr.  V.  Lechler  :  Das  apostolische  und  nachapost.  Zeitalter 
mit  Riicksicht  auf  Unterschied  und  Einheit  in  Lehre  und  Leben.  2Aufl. 
Stuttg.  1857.  Comp.  also  Neander,  Thiersch^  Schaff,  Lange,  on  the 
Apostolic  Age. 

§  22.    Unit!/  of  the  Apostolic  Doctrine. 

Christianity  is  primarily  not  merely  doctrine,  but  life,  a  new 
divine  creation,  a  saving  fact,  first  personally  embodied  in  Jesus 
Christ,  the  incarnate  Word,  the  God-man,  to  spread  from  him 
and  embrace  gradually  the  whole  body  of  the  race,  and  bring  it 
into  saving  fellowship  with  God.  The  same  is  true  of  Christianity 
as  it  exists  subjectively  in  single  individuals.  It  begins  not  with 
religious  views  and  notions ;  though  it  includes  these,  at  least  in 
embryo.  It  comes  as  a  new  life ;  as  regeneration,  conversion, 
and  sanctification ;  as  a  creative  fact  in  experience,  taking  up 
the  whole  man  with  all  his  faculties  and  capacities,  releasing  him 
from  the  guilt  and  the  power  of  sin,  and  reconciling  him  with 
God,  restoring  harmony  arid  peace  to  the  soul,  and  at  last  glori- 
fying the  body  itself  Thus  the  life  of  Christ  is  mirrored  in  his 
people,  rising  gradually,  through  the  use  of  the  means  of  grace 
and  the  continued  exercise  of  faith  and  love,  to  its  maturity  in 
the  resurrection. 

But  the  new  life  necessarily  contains  the  element  of  doctrine, 
or  knowledge  of  the  truth.     Christ  calls  himself  "  the  way,  the 

6 


S2  FIRST   PERIOD.    A.D.    1-100. 

trutli,  and  tlie  life."  He  is  himself  the  personal  revelation  of 
saving  truth,  or  of  the  normal  relation  of  man  to  God.  Yet  this 
element  of  doctrine  itself  appears  in  the  New  Testament,  not  in 
the  form  of  an  abstract  theory,  the  product  of  speculation,  a 
scientific  system  of  ideas  subject  to  logical  and  mathematical 
demonstration;  but  as  the  fresh,  immediate  utterance  of  the 
supernatural,  divine  life,  a  life-giving  power,  equally  practical 
and  theoretical,  coming  with  divine  authority  to  the  heart,  the 
will,  and  the  conscience,  as  well  as  to  the  mind,  and  irresistibly 
drawing  them  to  itself  The  knowledge  of  God  in  Christ,  as 
it  meets  us  here,  is  at  the  same  time  eternal  life.^ 

The  Bible,  therefore,  is  not  only,  nor  principally,  a  book  for 
the  learned,  but  a  book  of  life  for  every  one,  an  epistle  written 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  mankind.  In  the  words  of  Christ  and  his 
apostles  there  breathes  the  highest  and  holiest  spiritual  power, 
the  vivifying  breath  of  God,  piercing  bone  and  marrow,  thrilling 
through  the  heart  and  conscience,  and  quickening  the  dead.  The 
life,  the  eternal  life,  which  was  from  the  beginning  with  the 
Father,  and  is  manifested  to  ns,  there  comes  upon  us,  as  it  were, 
sensibly,  now  as  the  mighty  tornado,  now  as  the  gentle  zephyr ; 
now  overwhelming  and  casting  us  down  in  the  dust  of  humility 
and  penitence,  now  reviving  and  raising  us  to  the  joy  of  faith 
and  peace ;  but  always  bringing  forth  a  new  creature,  like  the 
word  of  power,  which  said  at  the  first  creation,  "Let  there  be 
light!"  Here  verily  is  hol}^  ground.  Ilere  is  the  door  of  eter- 
nity, the  true  ladder  to  heaven,  on  which  the  angels  of  God  are 
ascending  and  descending  in  unbroken  line;  No  number  of  sys- 
tems of  Christian  faith  and  morals,  therefore,  indispensable  as 
they  are  to  the  scientific  purposes  of  the  church  and  of  theology, 
can  ever  fill  the  place  of  the  Bible,  whose  words  are  spirit  and 
life. 

When  we  say,  the  New  Testament  is  no  logically  arranged 
system  of  doctrines  and  precepts,  we  are  far  from  meaning  that 
it  has  no  internal  order  and  consistency.  On  tlic  contrary,  it 
exhibits  the  most  beautiful  harmony,  like  the  external  crca- 

'  John  xvii.  3. 


§   22.      UNITY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  DOCTRINE.  83 

tion,  and  like  a  true  work  of  art.  It  is  tlie  very  task  of  the  his- 
torian, and  especially  of  the  theologian,  to  bring  this  hidden  liv- 
ing order  to  view,  and  present  it  in  logical  and  scientific  forms. 
For  this  work  Paul,  the  only  one  of  the  apostles  who  received  a 
learned  education,  himself  furnishes  the  first  fruitful  suggestions, 
especially  in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans.  This  epistle  follows  a 
logical  arrangement  even  in  form,  and  approaches  as  nearly  to  a 
scientific  treatise  as  it  could  consistently  with  the  fervent,  direct, 
practical,  popular  spirit  and  style  essential  to  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures and  inseparable  from  their  great  mission  for  all  Christen- 
dom. 

The  substance  of  all  the  apostohc  teaching  is  the  witness  of 
Christ,  the  gospel,  and  the  free  message  of  that  divine  love  and 
salvation,  which  appeared  in  the  person  of  Christ,  were  secured 
to  mankind  by  his  work,  are  gradually  reahzed  in  the  kingdom 
of  God  on  earth,  and  will  end  with  the  second  coming  of  Christ 
in  glory.  This  salvation  also  comes  in  close  connexion  with 
Judaism,  as  the  fulfilment  of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  the 
substance  of  all  the  Old  Testament  types  and  shadows.  The 
several  doctrines  entering  essentially  into  this  apostolic  preach- 
ing are  most  beautifully  and  simply  arranged  and  presented  in 
what  is  called  the  Apostles'  Creed,  which,  though  not  in  its  pre- 
cise form,  yet  as  regards  its  matter,  certainly  dates  from  the  primi- 
tive age  of  Christianity.  On  all  the  leading  points,  the  person 
of  Jesus  as  the  promised  Messiah,  his  holy  life,  his  atoning  death, 
his  triumphant  resurrection  and  exaltation  at  the  right  hand  of 
God,  and  his  second  coming  to  judge  the  world,  the  establish- 
ment of  the  church  as  a  divine  institution,  the  communion  of 
believers,  the  word  of  God,  and  the  sacraments  of  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  supper,  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  necessity  of 
repentance  and  conversion,  of  regeneration  and  sanctification,  the 
final  completion  of  salvation  io.  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  and  the  life  everlasting, — on  all  these 
points  the  apostles  are  perfectly  unanimous,  so  far  as  their  writ- 
ings have  come  down  to  us. 

The  apostles  all  drew  their  doctrine  in  common  from  personal 


84  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

contact  with  the  divine-human  history  of  the  crucified  and  risen 
Saviour,  and  from  the  inward  ilkimination  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
revealing  the  person  and  the  work  of  Christ  in  them,  and  open- 
ing to  them  his  discourses  and  acts.  This  divine  enlighten- 
ment is  inspiration,  governing  not  only  the  composition  of  the 
sacred  writings,  but  also  the  oral  instructions  of  their  authors ; 
not  merely  an  act,  but  a  permanent  state.  The  apostles  lived 
and  moved  continually  in  the  element  of  truth.  They  spoke, 
wrote,  and  acted  from  the  spirit  of  truth ;  and  this,  not  as  passive 
instruments,  but  as  conscious  and  free  organs.  For  the  Holy 
Ghost  does  not  supersede  the  gifts  and  peculiarities  of  nature, 
ordained,  by  the  Lord ;  it  sanctifies  them  to  the  service  of  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Inspiration,  however,  is  concerned  only  with 
moral  and  religious  truths,  and  the  communication  of  what  is 
necessary  to  salvation.  Incidental  matters  of  geography,  his- 
tory, archaeology,  and  of  mere  j)ersonal  interest,  can  be  regarded 
as  directed  by  inspiration  only  so  far  as  they  really  affect  religious 
truth. 

§  23.  Different  Types  of  the  Apostolic  Doctrine. 

But  with  all  this  harmony,  the  Christian  doctrine  appears  in 
the  Scriptures  in  different  forms  according  to  the  peculiar  charac- 
ter, education,  and  sphere  of  the  several  sacred  writers.  The  truth 
of  the  gospel,  in  itself  infinite,  can  adapt  itself  to  every  class,  to 
every  temperament,  every  order  of  talent,  and  every  habit  of 
thought.  Like  the  light  of  the  sun,  it  breaks  into  various  colors 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  bodies  on  which  it  falls ;  like  the 
jewel,  it  emits  a  new  radiance  at  every  turn. 

The  antithesis  of  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christianity,  which  wc 
have  already  observed  in  the  ])rovincc  of  missions,  runs  through 
the  entire  history  of  the  apostolic  period.  It  rests  on  the  great 
religious  division  in  the  ante-Christian  world,  and  to  some  extent 
affects  even  the  doctrine,  the  polity,  the  worship,  and  the  practi- 
cal life  of  the  church.  The  Jewish  converts  took  the  Christian 
fiiith  into  intimate  association  with  the  divinely  revealed  religion 
of  the  old  covenant,  and  adhered  as  far  as  possible  to  their  sacred 


§   23.      DIFFERENT   TYPES   OF   THE   APOSTOLIC   DOCTRINE.    85 

institutions  and  rites;  wliile  tliejieatlien  converts,  not  having 
known  tlie  law  of  Moses,  passed  at  once  from  tlie  state  of  nature 
to  the  state  of  grace.  The  former  represented  the  historical, 
traditional,  conservative  principle;  the  latter,  the  principle  of 
freedom,  independence,  and  progress. 

Accordingly  we  have  two  classes  of  inspired  teachers :  apos- 
tles of  the  Jews  or  of  the  circumcision,  and  apostles  of  the  Gen- 
tiles or  of  the  uncircumcision.  That  this  distinction  extends 
further  than  the  mere  missionarj-  field,  and  in  its  wide  sense  enters 
into  all  the  doctrinal  views  and  jDractical  life  of  the  parties,  we 
see  from  the  accounts  of  the  apostolic  council  in  Acts  xv.  and 
GaL  ii.,  which  was  held  for  the  express  purpose  of  adjusting  the 
difference  respecting  the  authority  of  the  Mosaic  law. 

But  the  opposition  was  only  relative,  though  it  caused  colli- 
sions at  times,  and  even  temporary  alienation,  as  between  Paul 
and  Peter  at  Antioch.^  As  the  two  forms  of  Christianity  had 
a  common  root  in  the  full  life  of  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  both 
Gentiles  and  Jews,  so  they  gradually  grew  together  into  the  unity 
of  the  catholic  church.  And  as  Peter  represents  the  Jewish 
church,  and  Paul  the  Gentile,  so  John,  at  the  close  of  the  apos- 
tolic age,  embodies  the  higher  union  of  the  two. 

With  this  are  connected  subordinate  differences,  as  of  tempera- 
ment, style,  &c.     James  has  been  distinguished  as  the  apostle  of 
the  law ;  Peter,  as  the  apostle  of  hope ;  Paul,  as  the  apostle  of 
faith ;  and  John,  as  the  apostle  of  love.     To  the  first  has  been     , 
assigned  the  phlegmatic  (?)  temperament,  in  its  sanctified  Chris- 
tian state,  to  the  second  the  sanguine,  to  the  third  the  choleric,  j 
and  to  the  fourth  the  melancholic ;  a  distribution,  however,  only  [ 
admissible  in  a  very  limited  sense.     The  four  gospels  also  pre- 
sent similar  differences;    the  first  having  close  affinity  to  the 
position  of  James,  the  second  to  that  of  Peter,  the  third  to  that 
of  Paul,  and  the  fourth  representing  in  its  doctrinal  element  the 
spirit  of  John. 

We  may  therefore  distinguish  three  types  of  doctrine,  under 
which  all  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  may  be  arranged : 

>  Gal.  u.  11  sqq.  ,^  ^'^/^^ 


86  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

1.  The  Jewish- CJiristian  type,  embracing  the  epistles  of  Peter, 
James,  and  Judo,  the  gosjjels  of  Mattliew  and  Mark,  and  to  some 
extent  the  Revelation  of  John;  for  John  is  ^^laced  by  Paul^ 
among  the  "pillars"  of  the  church  of  the  circumcision,  though 
in  his  later  writings  he  took  an  independent  position  above  the 
distinction  of  Jew  and  Gentile.  In  these  books,  originally  de- 
signed mainly,  though  not  exclusively,  for  Jewish-Christian 
readers,  Christianity  is  exhibited  in  its  unity  with  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, as  the  fulfilment  of  the  law  and  the  prophets. 

James,  looking  particularly  at  its  element  of  law,  conceives  it 
as  the  "  perfect  law  of  liberty,"  thus  plainly  enough  distinguish- 
ing it,  at  the  same  time,  from  the  imperfect  law  of  bondage.  He 
accordingly  lays  great  stress  on  good  works,  presupposing,  how- 
ever, faith  and  the  new  birth. 

Peter  brings  out  more  fully  the  prophetic  and  christological 
character  of  the  gosjDcl,  and  forms  the  transition  from  James  to 
Paul.  Christianity  is,  in  his  view,  the  fulfilment  indeed  of  all 
Messianic  prophecies,  but  at  the  same  time  itself  a  prophecy, 
cherishing  the  j^atient  and  joyful  hope  of  the  glorious  return  of 
the  Lord  and  the  appearance  of  the  new  heavens  and  new  earth. 
This  prophetic  element  comes  out  most  freely  in  the  Apocalypsej__ 

2.  The  Gentile- Christian  theology  of  Paul,  the  great  apostle  of 
the  Gentiles ;  including,  with  his  own  writings,  the  third  gospel 
and  the  book  of  Acts  by  his  disciple  Luke,  and  the  anonymous 
epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Here  Christianity  is  apprehended  in  its 
absolute  and  universal  character,  as  a  new  creation,  as  life  and 
freedom,  as  justification  and  saving  fellowship  of  faith  and  love 
with  the  heavenly  Father;  though  without  prejudice  to  the 
divine  character  of  Judaism  as  a  needful  preparatory  dispensa- 
tion. This  theology  especially  lays  down  the  doctrine  of  justi- 
fication by  faith  as  its  corner-stone,  in  opposition  to  the  legal 
righteousness  and  self-complacency  of  Jews  and  Judaizcrs.  Justi- 
fication Paul  regards  as  a  free  act  of  divine  grace,  whereby  the 
sinner,  for  the  sake  of  the  merits  of  Christ,  and  on  condition  of 
a  living  faith,   which  apprehends  and   appropriates  Christ,  is 

« Gal.  ii. 


§  24.   HERETICAL  PERVERSIONS  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  DOCTRINE.  87 

acquitted  of  all  guilt,  received  to  tlie  place  of  a  cliild,  and  trans- 
formed into  a  new  creature,  so  that  liencefortli,  being  dead  to 
sin,  he  lives  in  Christ  and  Christ  in  him,  to  the  giorj  of  God. 
This  creative  power  of  free  grace  the  apostle  had  so  wonderfully 
experienced  in  his  own  sudden  conversion,  that  he  made  it  ever 
after  the  great  burden  of  his  preaching. 

3.  The  perfect  unity  of  Jewish  and  Oeniih  Christianity  meets 
us  in  the  writings  of  John,  in  his  doctrines  of  the  absolute  love 
of  God  in  the  incarnation  of  the  eternal  Logos,  and  of  brotherly 
love,  resting  on  this  divine  foundation.  This  theology,  though 
in  principle  the  most  profound  and  ideal,  is  far  less  developed, 
logically  and  dialectically,  than  that  of  Paul.  John  speaks  from 
immediate  intuition,  and  testifies  of  that  which  his  own  eyes 
have  seen,  his  ears  heard,  and  his  hands  handled ;  of  the  glory 
of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  which  shone,  full  of  grace 
and  truth,  through  the  veil  of  his  humanity.  He  deals  in  few 
but  colossal  ideas  and  antitheses,  as  light  and  darkness,  love  and 
hatred,  life  and  death ;  which  he  sets  before  us  in  simple,  childlike 
style,  artless,  but  sublime.  He  looks  out  over  the  great  conflict 
of  Christ  and  antichrist  to  the  eternal  victory  of  the  truth  and 
love  of  him  who  is  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life,  the  beginning 
and  the  end.  His  knowledge  and  his  representation  of  Christ 
anticipate  that  "  seeing  face  to  face,"  into  which,  according  to 
St.  Paul,  our  partial  knowledge,  and  faith  itself,  must  finally 
pass. 

These  three  types  of  doctrine  together  exhibit  Christianity  in 
the  whole  fulness  of  its  life ;  and  they  form  the  theme  for  the 
variations  of  the  succeeding  ages  of  the  church.  But  Christ  is 
the  key-note,  harmonizing  all  the  discords  and  resolving  all  the 
mysteries  of  the  history  of  his  kingdom. 

§  2-i.  Heretical  Perversions  of  the  Apostolic  Doctrine. 

This  heavenly  body  of  apostolic  truth  is  confronted  with  the 
ghost  of  heresy,  as  were  the  divine  miracles  of  Moses  with  the 
Satanic  juggleries  of  the  Egyptians.  The  more  mightily  the  spirit 
of  truth  rises,  the  more  active  becomes  the  sj^irit  of  falsehood. 


88  ,   FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

But  in  tlic  hands  of  Providence  all  errors  in  the  history  of  the 
church  must  redound  to  the  unfolding  and  the  glorious  victory 
of  the  truth.  Thus  they  are  in  history  relatively  necessary  and 
negatively  justifiable ;  though  the  teachers  of  them  are,  of  course, 
not  therefore  guiltless.  "It  must  needs  be,  that  offences  come; 
but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence  cometh." 

The  heresies  of  the  apostolic  age  are,  respectively,  the  carica- 
tures of  the  several  types  of  the  true  doctrine.  Accordingly  we 
distinguish  three  fundamental  forms  of  heresy,  which  reappear, 
with  various  modifications,  in  almost  every  subsequent  period. 
In  this  respect,  as  in  others,  the  apostolic  period  stands  as  the 
type  of  the  whole  future ;  and  the  exhortations  and  warnings  of 
the  Now  Testament  against  false  doctrine  have  force  for  every 
age. 

1.  The  JuDAiziNG  tendency,  the  heretical  counterpart  of 
Jewish  Christianity,  so  insists  on  the  unity  of  Christianity  with 
Judaism,  as  to  sink  the  former  to  the  level  of  the  latter,  and 
make  the  gospel  merely  a  perfected  law.  It  regards  Christ  also 
as  a  mere  prophet,  a  second  Moses  ;  and  denies,  or  at  least  wholly 
overlooks,  his  priestly  and  kingly  ofi&ces,  and  his  diyine  nature 
in  general.  The  Judaizers  were  Jews  in  reality,  and  Christians 
only  in  appearance  and  in  name.  They  held  circumcision  and 
the  whole  moral  and  ceremonial  law  of  Moses  to  be  still  binding, 
and  the  observance  of  them  necessary  to  salvation.  Of  Chris- 
tianity as  a  new,  free,  and  universal  religion,  they  had  no  con- 
ception. Hence  they  hated  Paul,  the  liberal  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  as  a  dangerous  ajiostate  and  revolutionist,  impugned 
his  motives,  and  everywhere,  especially  in  Galatia  and  Corinth, 
labored  to  undermine  his  authority  in  the  churches.  The  epistles 
of  Paul,  especially  that  to  the  Galatians,  can  never  be  properly 
understood,  unless  their  opposition  to  this  false  Jewish  Chris- 
tianity be  continually  kept  in  view. 

The  same  heresy,  more  fully  developed,  appears  in  the  second 
century  under  the  name  oi  Ehionism. 

2.  The  opposite  extreme  is  a  flilse  Gentile  Christianity,  which 
may  be  called  the  Paganizing  or  Gnostic  heresy.    This  cxagge- 


§  24.   HERETICAL  PERVERSIONS  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  DOCTRINE.  89 

rates  the  Pauline  view  of  the  distinction  of  Christianity  from  Juda- 
ism, sunders  Christianity  from  its  historical  basis,  resolves  the  real 
humanity  of  the  Saviour  into  a  Docetistic  illusion,  and  perverts 
the  freedom  of  the  gospel  into  antinomian  licentiousness.  The 
author  of  this  baptized  heathenism,  according  to  the  uniform 
testimony  of  Christian  antiquity,  is  Simon  Magus, ^  who  unques- 
tionably adulterated  Christianity  with  pagan  ideas  and  practices, 
and  gave  himself  out,  in  pantheistic  stjde,  for  an  emanation  of 
God.  Plain  traces  of  this  error  appear  in  the  later  ejDistles  of 
Paul  (to  the  Colossians,  to  Timothy,  and  to  Titus),  the  second 
epistle  of  Peter,  the  first  two  epistles  of  John,  the  epistle  of 
Jude,  and  the  messages  of  the  Apocalypse  to  the  seven  churches. 

This  heresy,  in  the  second  century,  spread  over  the  whole 
church,  east  and  west,  in  the  various  schools  of  Onosticism. 

3.  As  attempts  had  already  been  made,  before  Christ,  by 
Philo,  by  the  Therapeutte  and  the  Essenes,  &c.,  to  blend  the 
Jewish  religion  with  heathen  philosophy,  especially  that  of 
Pythagoras  and  Plato,  so  now,  under  the  Christian  name,  there 
appeared  confused  combinations  of  these  opposite  systems,  form- 
ing either  a  Paganizing  Judaism,  i.  e.  Gnostic  Ebionism,  or  a 
JuDAiziNG  Paganism,  i.  e.  Ebionistic  Gnosticism,  according  as 
the  Jewish  or  the  heathen  eleme.nt  prevailed.  This  Syncretis- 
Tic  heresy  was  the  satanic  caricature  of  John's  theology,  which 
truly  reconciled  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christianity  in  the  highest 
conception  of  the  person  and  work  of  Christ.  The  errors  com- 
bated in  the  later  books  of  the  ISTew  Testament  are  almost  all 
more  or  less  of  this  mixed  sort,  and  it  is  often  doubtful  whether 
they  come  from  Judaism  or  from  heathenism. 

Whatever  their  differences,  however,  all  these  three  funda- 
mental heresies  amount  at  last  to  a  more  or  less  distinct  denial 
of  the  central  mystery  of  the  gospel — the  incarnation  of  the  Son 
of  God  for  the  salvation  of  the  world.  They  make  Christ  either 
a  mere  man,  or  a  mere  superhuman  phantom ;  they  allow,  at  all 
events,  no  real  and  abiding  union  of  the  divine  and  human  natures 
in  the  person  of  the  Eedeemer.     This  is  just  what  John  gives  as 

'  Acts  viii. 


90  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

tlie  mark  of  anticlirist/  which  existed  even  in  his  day  in  various 
forms.  It  plainly  undermines  the  foundation  of  the  church. 
For  if  Christ  be  not  God-man  in  the  full  sense,  and  that  perma- 
nently, neither  is  he  mediator  between  God  and  men;  Chris- 
tianity sinks  back  into  heathenism  or  Judaism,  and  our  hope 
fails.  All  turns  at  last  on  the  answer  to  that  fundamental  ques- 
tion :  "  What  think  ye  of  Christ  ?  "  The  true  solution  of  this 
question  is  the  radical  refutation  of  every  error. 


§  25.  Rise  of  the  Apostolic  Literature, 

Comp.  the  historico-critical  Introductions  to  the  New  Testament  by  Hro, 
De  Wette,  Credner,  Eeuss,  Guericke,  Horne,  Davidson,  Tregelles, 
&c.,  and  the  above  cited  commentaries  on  the  apostoHc  writings.  Also 
TniERSCii :  Versuch  zur  HersteUung  des  historischen  Standpunl-ctes  fiir 
die  Kritik  der  N.  Tlichen  Schriften.  Erl.  1845.  Ebrard:  Wissenschaft- 
liche  Kritik  der  evang.  Gesch.    2d  ed.    Erl.  1850. 

Christ  wrote  nothing ;  but  is  himself  the  book  of  life  to  be 
read  by  all.  His  religion  is  not  an  outward  letter  of  command, 
like  the  law  of  Moses,  but  free,  quickening  spirit ;  not  a  literary 
production,  but  a  moral  creation ;  not  a  new  system  of  theology 
or  philosophy  for  the  learned,  but  the  communication  of  the 
divine  life  to  human  nature  for  the  redemption  of  the  whole 
world.  Christ  is  the  personal  Word  of  God,  the  eternal  Logos, 
made  flesh  and  dwelling  upon  earth  as  the  true  Shekinah,  in 
the  veiled  glory  of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace 
and  truth.  He  spoke;  and  all  tlic  words  of  his  mouth  were, 
and  still  are,  spirit  and  life.^  The  human  heart  craves  not  a 
learned,  letter-writing,  literary  Christ,  but  a  wonder-working, 
cross-bearing,  atoning  Redeemer,  risen,  enthroned  in  heaven,  and 
ruling  the  world ;  yet  furnishing,  at  the  same  time,  to  men  and 
angels  an  inexhaustible  theme  of  holy  thoughts,  discourses,  writ- 
ings, and  songs  of  praise. 

So,  too,  the  Lord  chose  none  of  his  apostles,  with  the  single 
exception  of  Paul,  from  the  ranks  of  the  learned ;  he  did  not 

'  1  John  ii.  22 ;  iv.  1-3.  '  Joliu  vi.  G3. 


§   25.      RISE   OF   THE   APOSTOLIC    LITERATURE.  91 

train  them  to  literary  autliorsliijD,  nor  give  them,  tlirougliout  his 
earthly  life,  a  single  express  command  to  labor  in  that  way. 
Plain  fishermen  of  Galilee,  unskilled  in  the  wisdom  of  this  world, 
but  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  of  truth  and  the  powers  of  the 
world  to  come,  were  commissioned  to  preach  the  glad  tidings  of 
salvation  to  all  nations  in  the  strength  and  in  the  name  of  their 
glorified  Master,  who  sits  on  the  right  hand  of  God  the  Father 
Almighty,  and  has  promised  to  be  with  them  to  the  end  of  time. 

The  gospel,  accordingly,  was  first  propagated  and  the  church 
founded  by  the  personal  oral  teaching  and  exhortation,  the 
"preaching,"  "testimony,"  "word,"  "tradition,"  of  the  apostles 
and  their  disciples ;  as,  in  fact,  to  this  day  the  living  word  is  the 
indispensable  means  of  promoting  the  Christian  religion.  Nearly 
all  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  were  written  between  the 
years  50  a,nd  70,  at  least  twenty  years  after  the  resurrection  of 
Christ,  and  the  founding  of  the  church ;  and  the  writings  of 
John  still  later. 

As  the  apostles'  field  of  labor  expanded,  it  became  too  large 
for  their  personal  attention,  and  required  epistolary  correspon- 
dence. The  vital  interests  of  Christianity,  also,  and  the  wants 
of  coming  generations,  demanded  a  faithful  record  of  the  life  and 
teachings  of  Christ  by  perfectly  reliable  witnesses.  For  oral 
tradition,  among  fallible  men,  is  subject  to  so  many  accidental 
changes,  that  it  loses  in  certainty  and  credibility  as  its  distance 
from  the  fountain-head  increases,  till  at  last  it  can  no  longer  be 
clearly  distinguished  from  the  additions  and  corruptions  collected 
upon  it.  There  was  danger,  too,  of  a  wilful  distortion  of  the  his- 
tory and  doctrine  of  Christianity  by  Judaizing  and  paganizing 
errorists,  who  had  already  raised  their  heads  during  the  lifetime 
of  the  apostles.  An  authentic  written  record  of  the  words  and 
acts  of  Jesus  and  his  disciples  was  therefore  absolutely  indispensa- 
ble, not  indeed  to  originate  the  church,  but  to  maintain  it,  and 
to  keep  Christianity  pure. 

Hence  seven  and  twenty  books  by  apostles  and  apostolic 
men,  written  under  the  special  direction  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who 
filled  the  authors  from  the  day  of  Pentecost.     These  afford  us  a 


92  FIRST  PERIOD.    A.D.    1-100. 

trutliful  and  complete  picture  of  the  history,  the  faith,  and  the 
practice  of  jDrimitive  Christianity,  "for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for 
correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness."^ 

The  collection  of  these  writings  into  a  canon,  in  distinction 
both  from  apocr3^phal  or  pseudo-apostolic  works,  and  from  ortho- 
dox yet  merely  human  productions,  was  the  business  of  the  early 
church ;  and  in  performing  it  she  was  likewise  guided  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  and  by  an  unerring  sense  of  truth.  It  was  not  fin- 
ished to  the  satisfaction  of  all  till  the  end  of  the  fourth  century, 
down  to  which  time  seven  New  Testament  books  (the  "  Antile- 
gomena"  of  Eusebius),  the  second  epistle  of  Peter,  the  second  and 
third  epistles  of  John,  the  anonymous  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  the 
epistles  of  James  and  Jude,  and  in  a  certain  sense  also  the  Apoca- 
lypse of  John,  were  by  some  considered  of  questionable  author- 
ship or  value.  But  the  collection  was  no  doubt  begun,  on  the 
model  of  the  Old  Testament  canon,  in  the  first  century ;-  and  the 
principal  books,  the  Gospels,  the  Acts,  the  thirteen  epistles  of 
Paul,  the  first  epistle  of  Peter,  and  the  first  of  John,  in  a  body, 
were  in  general  use  in  the  second  century,  and  were  read,  either 
entire  or  by  sections,  in  public  worship,  after  the  manner  of  the 
Jewish  synagogue,  for  the  edification  of  the  people. 

§  26.   Character  of  the  New  Testament. 

In  these  inspired  writings  we  have  a  true  and  constant  substi- 
tute for  the  personal  presence  and  the  oral  instruction  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles.  The  written  word  differs  from  the  siDoken  only 
in  form ;  the  substance  is  the  same,  and  has  therefore  the  same 
authority  and  quickening  power  for  us  as  it  had  for  those  who 
heard  it  first.  Although  these  books  were  called  forth  ajipa- 
rently  by  special  occasions,  and  were  primarily  addressed  to  par- 
ticular circles  of  readers  and  adapted  to  particular  circumstances, 
yet,  as  they  present  the  eternal  and  unchangeable  truth  in  living 
forms,  they  suit  all  circumstances  and  all  times.  Ilence  they  arc 
to  this  day  not  only  the  sole  reliable  and  pure  fountain  of  primi- 

>  2  Tim.  iii.  16. 

'  Comp.  2  Pet.  iii.  IG,  where  a  collection  of  Paul's  epistles  is  implied. 


§   26.      CHARACTER   OF  THE   NEW   TESTAMENT.  93 

tive  Christianity,  but  also  tlie  infallible  rule  of  Christian  faith 
and  practice.  From  this  fountain  the  church  has  drunk  the 
water  ■  of  life  for  more  than  fifty  generations,  and  will  drink  it 
till  the  end  of  time.  In  this  rule  she  has  a  perpetual  corrective 
for  all  her  faults,  and  a  protective  against  all  error.  Theological 
systems  come  and  go,  and  draw  from  that  inexhaustible  treasury 
their  larger  or  smaller  additions  to  the  stock  of  our  knowledge 
of  the  truth ;  but  they  can  never  equal  that  universal  word  of 
God,  which  abideth  for  ever. 

The  New  Testament  evinces  its  catholic  design  in  its  very 
style,  which  alone  distinguishes  it  from  all  the  literary  productions 
of  earlier  and  later  times.  The  language  is  the  Hellenistic  idiom ; 
that  is,  the  Macedonian  Greek  as  spoken  by  the  Jews  of  the  dis- 
persion in  the  time  of  Christ ;  uniting,  in  a  regenerated  Christian 
form,  the  two  great  antagonistic  nationalities  and  religions  of  the 
ancient  world.  The  most  beautiful  language  of  heathendom  and 
the  venerable  language  of  the  Jews  are  here  combined,  baptized 
with  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  made  the  picture  of  silver  for 
the  golden  ap23le  of  the  eternal  truth  of  the  gospel.  And  indeed 
the  style  of  the  Bible  in  general  is  singularly  adapted  to  men  of 
every  class  and  grade  of  culture,  affording  the  child  the  simple 
nourishment  for  its  religious  wants,  and  the  profoundest  thiiiker 
inexhaustible  matter  of  study.  The  Bible  is  not  simply  a  popu- 
lar book,  but  a  book  of  all  nations  and  for  all  societies,  classes, 
and  conditions  of  men. 

The  New  Testament  presents,  in  its  way,  the  same  union  of 
the  divine  and  human  natures,  as  the  person  of  Christ.  In  this 
sense  also  "  the  word  is  made  flesh,  and  dwells  among  us."  The 
Bible  is  thoroughly  human  (though  without  error)  in  contents 
and  form,  in  the  mode  of  its  rise,  its  compilation,  its  preservation, 
and  transmission ;  yet  at  the  same  time  thoroughly  divine  both 
in  its  thoughts  and  words,  in  its  origin,  vitality,  energy,  and 
effect,  and  beneath  the  human  servant-form  of  the  letter  the  eye 
of  faith  discerns  the  glory  of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  full 
of  grace  and  truth.^ 

>  Comp.  §  22. 


94  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.    1-100. 

The  apostolic  "writings  are  of  three  kinds :  historical,  didactic, 
and  prophetic.  To  the  first  class  belong  the  Gospels  and  Acts ; 
to  the  second,  the  Epistles ;  to  the  third,  the  Revelation.  They 
are  related  to  each  other  as  regeneration,  sanctification,  and  glori- 
fication; as  foundation,  house,  and  dome.  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
beginning,  the  middle,  and  the  end  of  all.  In  the  Gospels  he 
■walks  in  human  form  upon  the  earth,  and  accomplishes  the  work 
of  redemption.  In  the  Acts  and  Epistles  he  founds  the  church, 
and  fills  and  guides  it  by  his  Spirit.  And  at  last,  in  the  visions 
of  the  Apocalypse,  he  comes  again  in  glory,  and  with  his  bride, 
the  church  of  the  saints,  reigns  for  ever  upon  the  new  earth  and 
in  the  city  of  God. 

§  27.  The  Gospels 

The  four  canonical  gospels,  or  more  precisely,  the  four  repre- 
sentations of  the  one  gospel,^  pretend  not  to  be  full  biographies 
of  Jesus,  but  aim  to  give  only  a  selection  of  the  characteristic 
features  of  his  life  and  works,  for  the  practical  purpose  of  leading 
their  readers  to  living  faith  in  him  as  the  promised  Messiah  and 
Saviour  of  the  world.^  This  they  do  in  perfectly  simple,  un- 
adorned, straightforward,  and  purely  objective  style.  The  authors, 
in  noble  modesty  and  self-denial,  entirely  suppress  their  personal 
views  and  feelings,  retire  in  worshipful  silence  before  their  great 
subject,  and  strive  to  set  it  forth  in  all  its  own  power  to  subdue, 
without  human  aid,  every  truth-loving  and  penitent  heart. 

The  first  and  fourth  gospels  were  composed  by  the  apostles 
Matthew  and  John ;  the  second  and  third,  under  the  influence 
of  Peter  and  Paul,  and  by  their  immediate  disciples,  Mark  and 
Luke,  so  as  to  be  likewise  of  apostolic  origin  and  canonical 
authority. 

These  works  have  their  common  source  in  the  personal  inter- 
course of  the  authors  with  Christ,  and  in  the  oral  tradition  of  the 
apostles  and  other  eye-witnesses.  The  tradition,  being  constantly 
repeated  in  public  worship  and  in  private  circles,  assumed  a 
fixed,  stereotyped  form;    the  more  readily,  on  account  of  the 

'  TCTpanop(pov  cvayyiXiov,  as  Ircnaeus  calls  it     ^  CoiiiD.  John  xx.  30,  31;  xxi.  25. 


§  27.      THE   GOSPELS.  95 

reverence  of  tlie  first  disciples  for  every  'word  of  their  divine 
Master.  Hence  the  striking  agreement  of  the  first  three,  or 
sjmoptical  gospels,  which,  in  matter  and  form,  are  only  varia- 
tions of  the  same  theme.  Luke  used,  besides  the  oral  tradition, 
written  documents  on  certain  parts  of  the  life  of  Jesus,^  which 
doubtless  appeared  early  among  the  first  disciples.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  the  gospel  of  Mark,  the  confidant  of  Peter,  is 
not  only  a  faithful  copy  of  the  gospel  preached  and  otherwise 
communicated  by  this  apostle,  but  also  rests  on  Hebrew  records 
which  Peter  may  have  made  from  time  to  time  under  the  impres- 
sion of  the  events  themselves. 

But  with  all  their  similarity  in  matter  and  style,  each  of  the 
Gospels,  above  all  the  foarth,  has  its  peculiarities,  answering  to 
the  personal  character  of  its  author,  its  special  design,  and  the 
circumstances  of  its  readers.  The  several  evangelists  present  the 
infinite  fulness  of  the  life  and  person  of  Jesus  in  different  aspects 
and  different  relations  to  mankind ;  and  they  complete  each  other. 
The  symbolical  poesy  of  the  church  compares  them  with  the  four 
cherubic  representatives  of  the  creation,  assigning  the  man  to 
Matthew,  the  lion  to  Marie,  the  ox  to  Luke,  and  the  eagle  to 
John.  The  apparent  contradictions  of  these  narratives  suffi- 
ciently solve  themselves  on  close  examination,  at  least  in  all 
essential  points,  and  serve  only  to  attest  the  honesty,  impartiahty, 
and  credibility  of  the  authors. 

The  Gospel  of  Matthew  was  written  in  Palestine,  for  Jewish- 
Christian  readers,  and  probably  first  in  the  Aramaic  language. 
It  exhibits  Christ  as  the  last  and  greatest  prophet  and  lawgiver, 
the  falfiller  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  Messiah  and  King  of  the  true 
Israel.  It  follows  rather  a  topical  than  a  chronological  arrange- 
ment, grouping  together  the  kindred  acts  and  discourses  of  Jesus ; 
as  in  the  sermon  on  the  mount,  ch.  v.  and  vii.,  the  parables  of  ch. 
xiii.,  the  discourses  against  the  Pharisees,  ch.xxiii.,  the  prophecies 
of  the  second  coming,  ch.  xxiv.  and  xxv.  It  is  not  a  mere  narrative 
of  facts,  but  at  the  same  time  a  historical  argument  for  the  Mes- 

^  Luke  i.  1-4. 


96  FIEST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

siahsliip  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth ;  and  hence  everywhere  points  out 
the  fulfihnent  of  the  Old  Testament  prophecies  in  his  life.  It  is 
in  some  sense  the  fundamental  Gos|)el,  the  giving  of  the  perfect 
law  of  the  new  covenant  (comp.  especially  the  sermon  on  the 
mount),  and  thus  the  evangelical  counterpart  to  the  Pentateuch  of 
the  Old  Testament. 

The  Gospel  of  Mark,  according  to  Eusebius,  was  composed 
at  Rome  and  for  Roman  readers.  It  omits  the  longer  discourses 
of  Jesus,  and  sets  him  forth,  in  fresh  and  graphic  sketches  inter- 
woven with  many  small  but  characteristic  incidents,  as  the  Son  of 
God,  the  mighty  wonder-worker,  and  the  victorious  Lion  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah.  It  forms  the  transition  from  the  first  or  Jewish-Chris- 
tian Gospel,  to  the  third  or  Gentile-Christian ;  as  the  Epistles  of 
Peter  stand,  in  regard  to  doctrine,  between  those  of  James  and 
those  of  Paul. 

The  Gospel  of  Luke  was  plainly  designed  primarily  and 
mainly  for  Gentile-Christian  readers,  and  everywhere  betrays 
the  faithful  disciple  and  comj^anion  of  Paul,  at  whose  side,  most 
probably  during  liis  imprisonment  at  Caesarea  and  in  Rome,  be- 
tween 60  and  64,  it  was  written.  It  carefully  observes  chrono- 
logical order,  and  loves  to  give  prominence  to  the  universal  cha- 
racter of  Christianity.  It  traces  the  genealogy  of  Jesus  to  Adam, 
the  father  of  all  men.  It  makes  mention  of  the  seventy  disci- 
ples, who  represent  the  heathen  world,  as  the  twelve  apostles 
represent  the  Jewish.  It  gives  the  story  of  the  good  Samaritan, 
who  shamed  the  priest  and  the  Levite  ;  the  parables  of  the  lost 
sheep,  the  prodigal  son,  the  pharisee  and  publican ;  all  setting  in 
the  clearest  light  the  doctrine  of  free,  unmerited  grace,  in  o]iposi- 
tion  to  the  pride  of  the  Jews  in  their  law,  and  to  the  self-righteous- 
ness of  the  Pharisees.  Luke  portrays  Jesus  as  the  ever  ready 
and  able  physician  of  body  and  soul ;  the  shepherd  seeking  the 
wandering  sheep ;  the  compassionate  friend  of  all  sinners,  break- 
ing down  the  wall  of  partition  between  Jews  and  Gentiles. 

The  Gospel  of  John,  the  beloved  disciple  of  the  Lord,  was 
produced  last  of  all,  at  Ephesus,  probably  not  till  after  the  des- 
truction of  Jerusalem.     Its  plan  is  altogether  peculiar.     It  is  at 


§   27.      THE   GOSPELS.  97 

once  a  most  welcome  complemejit  to  tlie  other  Gospels,  and  an 
independent  organic  whole.  The  synoptical  evangelists  present 
chiefly  the  labors  of  Jesus  in  Galilee  and  among  the  common  peo- 
ple ;  his  miracles,  his  popular,  practical,  parabolic,  and  sententious 
discourses  on  the  new  law  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  John 
depicts  Jesus  in  Judaea,  among  the  Pharisees  and  Scribes ;  passes 
over  most  of  his  miraculous  cures,  but  relates  the  greatest  of  the 
miracles,  the  turning  of  water  into  wine  and  the  raising  of 
Lazarus ;  and  communicates  with  special  care  the  profound  me- 
taphysical discourses  of  the  Lord  on  his  person  and  his  relation 
to  the  Father,  to  his  disciples,  and  to  the  world.  He  says  nothing 
of  the  outward  form  of  the  church ;  the  name  does  not  once 
occur  in  his  writings.  He  omits  even  the  institution  of  the  sacra- 
ments. But  instead  he  unfolds  to  us  the  spiritual  and  eternal 
essence  of  the  church,  the  vital  union  of  believers  with  Christ,. 
and  their  consequent  fellowship  with  one  anotlier  in  brotherly 
love ;  and  gives  the  discourses  of  Jesus  on  the  spiritual  baptism, 
of  regeneration,^  and  on  the  inmost  essence  of  the  holy  supper,  the> 
mystical,  spiritual  participation  of  his  flesh  and  blood,  his  truly- 
human  life  by  a  living  faith.^  The  synoptical  evangelists  set  forth 
the  deified  humanity,  John  the  incarnate  divinity,  of  the  same 
Saviour.  The  former  ascend  from  the  Son  of  Man  to  the  Son  of 
God,  and  follow  their  hero  from  his  birth  in  the  stable  at 
Bethlehem,  through  his  mighty  works  and  fearful  passion,  to  the 
right  hand  of  the  Father,  where,  in  reward  of  his  labor,  "  all  power 
is  given  unto  him  in  heaven  and  in  earth."  The  latter  begins 
with  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  and  traces  him  downwards  through 
the  creation  and  the  prej)aratory  steps  of  his  revelation  to  his 
incarnation,  nay,  to  his  extreme  humihation  on  the  cross,  whence 
he  again  takes  possession  of  the  glory  which  he  had  with  the 
Father  before  the  world  was. 

The  Gospel  of  John  is  pre-eminently  the  spiritual  and  ideal; 

though  at  the  same  time  most  truly  real  gospel,  pervaded  with 

an  irresistible  charm  both  for  the  inquiring  mind  and  for  the 

loving  heart.     It  breathes  the  peaceful  air  of  eternity,  yet  betrays 

1  Ch.  iii.  ••'  Ch.  vi. 


98  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

tlie  power  of  the  "  son  of  thunder ;"  it  is  sublime  as  a  serapli  and 
simple  as  a  child,  bold  as  an  eagle  and  gentle  as  a  lamb  ;  high  as 
the  heavens  and  deep  as  the  sea.  It  unites  in  fairest  harmony  the 
deepest  knowledge  and  the  purest  love  of  Christ.  It  lifts  the 
A-eil  from  the  holy  of  holies  of  the  evangelical  history,  and  shows 
us  the  beating  heart  of  the  God-man,  that  we  may  exclaim  with 
Thomas  in  holy  joy  and  adoration  :  "My  Lord,  and  my  God !" 

Truly,  such  a  life-picture  could  come  only  from  the  bosom 
friend  of  Jesus,  who  had  drunk  deep  from  the  fountain  of  eternal 
truth  and  love. 

§  28.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

The  book  of  Acts,  though  ])laced  by  the  ancient  ecclesiastical 
division  not  in  the  "  Gospel,"  but  in  the  "Apostle,"  is  a  direct 
continuation  of  the  tliird  Gospel,  by  the  same  author,  and  ad- 
dressed to  the  same  Theophilus,  probably  a  distinguished  Roman. 
It  presents  the  progress  of  Christianity  from  Jerusalem  to  Rome; 
the  planting  of  the  church  among  the  Jews  by  Peter,  and  among 
the  Gentiles  by  Paul.  It  begins  with  the  ascension  of  Christ,  or 
his  accession  to  his  throne,  and  the  founding  of  his  kingdom  by 
the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  it  closes  with  the  joyful 
preaching  of  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  in  the  capital  of  the  then 
known  world ;  the  event  which  substantially  decided  the  victory 
of  Christianity  in  the  earth.  To  this  objective  representation 
of  the  progress  of  the  church,  the  subjective  and  biograjDhical 
features  of  the  work  altogether  yield.  Before  Peter,  the  hero  of 
the  first  or  Jewish-Christian  division,  and  Paul,  the  hero  of  the 
second  or  Gentile-Christian  part,  the  other  apostles  quite  retire ; 
and  the  lives  of  even  these  two  appear  in  the  history  onh^  so  far 
as  they  are  connected  with  the  missionary  work.  In  this  view 
the  long-received  title  of  the  book,  added  by  some  other  hand 
than  the  author's,  is  not  altogether  correct. 

Luke,  the  faithfid  pupil  and  companion  of  Paul,  was  eminently 
fitted  to  produce  this  first  chureli  histor}'.  For  the  first  part  lie 
had  the  aid  not  only  of  oral  tradition,  but  also,  no  doubt,  of 
Palestinian  documents,  as  in  preparing  his  gospel.     Of  most  of 


§   29.      THE   CATHOLIC   EPISTLES.  99 

the  events  in  the  second  part  he  was  eye-witness.  Probably  lie 
began  the  work  during  the  confinement  of  Paul  in  Caesarea,  and 
under  his  eye ;  and  finished  it  during  the  apostle's  imprisonment 
in  Rome,  a.d.  63  or  64.  For  with  this  last  scene  he  suddenly 
breaks  ofi",  without  informing  us  of  the  subsequent  fortunes  of 
Paul.  Perhaps  he  intended  to  continue  his  history  over  the  third 
and  last  stadium  of  the  missionary  work  of  the  apostolic  church ; 
but  for  this  period  we  now  have  only  the  last  epistles  of  Paul, 
and  the  restored  writings  of  John. 

§  29.  The  Catholic  Epistles. 

The  seven  catholic  or  general  epistles,  which  in  the  old  manu- 
scripts immediately  follow  the  Acts,  are  so  named  from  their 
encyclical  character.  Excepting  the  second  and  third  epistles  of 
John,  they  are  addressed,  not  to  a  single  person  or  congregation, 
but  to  a  larger  circle  of  readers,  and  are  therefore  much  more 
free  from  personal  and  especial  references  than  the  epistles  of 
Paul.  The  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  also,  is  of  the  same  sort, 
though  it  is  not  reckoned  among  the  Catholic  epistles. 

The  Epistle  of  James  the  Just,  the  brother  of  Jesus  (to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  James  the  Elder,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  and  proba- 
bly also  from  James  the  Less,  the  son  of  Alpheus),  was  written, 
no  doubt,  at  Jerusalem,  the  metropolis  of  the  ancient  theocracy 
and  of  Jewish  Christianity,  where  the  author  labored  and  died 
at  the  head  of  the  Christian  congregation.  It  was  addressed  to 
the  Jewish  Christians  of  the  dispersion,  earnestly  exhorting  them 
to  practical  Christianity  and  active  faith,  warning  them  against 
dead  orthodoxy,  covetousness,  pride,  and  worldliness,  and  com- 
forting them  in  view  of  present  and  approaching  trials  and 
persecutions  from  the  unbelieving  Jews.  James's  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  and  Christian  works  seems  at  first  to  con- 
tradict Paul's  doctrine  of  justification  by  free  grace  through  faith 
without  the  deeds  of  the  law.  But  they  only  use  terms  on  this 
subject  in  somewhat  different  senses,  as  they  present  different 
aspects  of  the  same  truth  against  opposite  errors,  and  thus  really 
complete  and  guard  each  other. 


100  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.    1-100. 

The  First  Epistle  of  Peter,  dated  from  Babylon,^  belongs  to 
tlie  later  life  of  the  apostle,  when  his  ardent  natural  temper  was 
deeply  humbled,  softened,  and  sanctified  by  the  work  of  grace. 
It  was  written  to  churches  in  several  provinces  of  Asia  Minor, 
composed  of  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians  together,  and  planted 
mainly  by  Paul  and  his  fellow-laborers ;  and  was  sent  by  the 
hands  of  Silvanus,  a  former  companion  of  Paul.  It  consists  of 
precious  consolations,  and  exhortations  to  a  holy  walk  after  the 
example  of  Christ,  to  joyful  hope  of  the  heavenly  inheritance,  to 
patience  under  the  persecutions  already  raging  or  impending. 
It  attests  also  the  essential  agreement  of  Peter  with  the  doctrine 
of  the  Grentile  apostle,  in  which  the  readers  had  been  before 
instructed.^ 

The  Second  Epistle  of  Peter  was  addressed,  shortly  before 
the  author's  death,  as  a  sort  of  last  will  and  testament,  to  the 
same  churches  as  the  first.  It  contains  a  renewed  assurance  of 
his  agreement  with  his  "beloved  brother  Paul,"  to  whose  epistles 
he  most  respectfully  refers.^  As  he  himself  receives  in  one  of 
those  epistles  of  Paul  a  sharp  reproof  for  inconsistency,*  this 
honorable  allusion  to  them  proves  how  thoroughly  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  had  through  experience  trained  him  to  humility,  meek- 
ness, and  self-denial.  The  epistle  elsewhere  earnestly  warns  the 
Christians  against  antinomian  and  licentious  false  teachers,  and 
exhorts  them  to  prepare  for  the  final  advent  of  the  Lord.  The 
genuineness  of  this  epistle  is  not  so  strongly  and  unequivocally 
supported  as  that  of  the  first ;  and  Eusebius  counted  it  among 
the  seven  Antilegomena  of  the  New  Testament.  But  it  contains 
nothing  which  Peter  might  not  have  written;  it  is  rather  a 
worthy  valedictory  of  the  apostle  awaiting  his  martyrdom,  and 
with  its  still  valid  warnings  against  internal  dangers  from  false 
Christianity,  it  forms  a  suitable  complement  to  the  first  epistle, 
which  comforts  the  Christians  amidst  external  dangers  from  hea- 
then and  Jewish  persecutors 

•  Chap.  V.  13,  by  which  the  ancient  lathers  understand  heathen,  persecuting  Rome, 
as  in  the  Apocalypse. 

"  Chap.  V.  12.  3  Chap.  iii.  15,  16.  *  Gal.  ii.  11  sqq. 


§   30.      THE   EPISTLES   OF   PAUL.  101 

The  short  Epistle  of  Jude,  a  brother  of  James  the  Just,  is  very 
much  the  same,  in  contents,  with  the  second  Epistle  of  Peter,  and 
seems  to  have  been  written  to  the  same  churches  and  against  the 
same  Grnostic  errorists.     It  belongs  also  among  the  Antilegomena. 

The  First  Epistle  of  John  betrays  throughout,  in  thought 
and  style,  the  author  of  the  fourth  gospel.  It  is  a  circular  letter 
of  the  venerable  apostle  to  his  beloved  children  in  Asia  Minor, 
exhorting  them  to  a  holy  life  of  faith  and  love  in  Christ,  and 
earnestly  warning  them  against  the  Gnostic  "  antichrists,"  already 
existing  or  to  come,  who  deny  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation, 
sunder  rehgion  from  morality,  and  run  into  antinomian  practices. 

The  Second  and  Third  Epistles  of  John  are,  like  the  Epistle 
of  Paul  to  Philemon,  short  private  letters,  one  to  a  Christian 
woman  by  the  name  of  Cyria,  the  other  to  one  Gains,  probably 
an  officer  of  a  congregation  in  Asia  Minor.  Though  they  belong 
to  the  Antilegomena,  yet  they  have  no  internal  marks  of  sjDuri- 
ousness.  On  the  contrarj^,  the  second  epistle  resembles  the  first, 
almost  to  verbal  repetition,^  and  such  repetition  well  agrees  with 
the  flimiliar  tradition  of  Jerome  concerning  the  apostle  of  love, 
ever  exhorting  the  congregation,  in  his  advanced  age,  to  love 
one  another.  The  difference  of  opinion  in  the  ancient  church 
respecting  them  may  have  risen  partly  from  their  private  nature 
and  their  brevity;  and  partly  from  the  fact,  that  the  author 
styles  himself,  somewhat  remarkably,  the  "  elder,"  the  "  presby- 
ter." This  term,  however,  is  probably  to  be  taken,  not  in  the 
official  sense,  but  in  the  original,  signifying  age  and  dignity; 
for  at  that  time  John  was  in  fact  a  venerable  father  in  Christ, 
and  must  have  been  revered  and  loved  as  a  patriarch  among  his 
"little  children." 

§  30.  The  Einstles  of  Paul. 

Compare  the  literature  given  at  §  19. 

In  the  field  of  Christian  doctrine  and  literature,  as  well  as  else- 
where, Paul  has  "labored  more  than  all"  the  other  apostles. 

1  Comp.  2  John  4-7  with  1  John  ii.  7,  8.  iv.  2,  3. 


102  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.    1-100. 

From  him  we  have  thirteen  epistles,  some  to  congregations, 
others  to  individuals,  all  together  affording  us  at  once  a  complete 
view  of  the  whole  plan  of  redemption,  and  a  clear  insight  into 
the  apostle's  own  inner  life  and  the  condition  of  his  churches. 
These  epistles  compress  into  a  few  jDages  an  amazing  fund  of 
religious  thought  and  feeling,  which  has  already  nourished  the 
Christian  world  for  nearly  two  thousand  years,  and  still  yields 
new  treasures  on  every  fresh  examination.  They  are  without  a 
parallel  in  the  history  of  ancient  or  modern  literature.  We  look 
in  vain  for  a  similar  series  of  epistles  of  the  same  compass  and 
significance.  They  reflect  the  deepest  struggles  and  conflicts  of 
the  writer  and  his  age,  and  yet  they  rise  far  above  them  all  in 
the  triumphant  vigor  of  faith.  They  reveal  a  mind  profoundly 
agitated,  and  yet  profoundly  calm,  clear,  sound,  and  serene. 

Paul's  writings  are  all  tracts  of  the  times  and  for  the  times,  and 
yet  for  all  times,  yea  for  eternity.  They  gi'api)le  with  the  con- 
crete realities  of  his  congregations,  but  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
make  them  the  occasion  for  the  discussion  of  the  highest  truths 
and  the  solution  of  the  deepest  problems  that  challenge  the  atten- 
tion of  every  age  and  congregation.  They  are  all  pastoral  letters, 
beginning  with  the  apostolic  salutation,  and  a  thanksgiving  to 
God  for  his  gracious  deeds  in  the  churches  concerned,  and  clos- 
ing with  personal  intelligence,  greetings,  benediction,  and  dox- 
ology ;  while  the  body  of  the  letters  consists  of  didactic  expositions 
and  corresponding  practical  exhortations,  warnings,  and  encou- 
ragements. The  style  is  original  throughout,  full  of  force  and  life, 
and  with  its  skilful  arguments,  bold  antitheses,  eloquent  figures, 
sudden  turns,  startling  questions  and  exclamations,  and  even  with 
its  occasional  gi'ammatical  harshness  and  irregularity,  foithfully 
represents  the  commanding  power  and  overflowing  fulness  of  the 
apostle's  mind  and  heart.  His  words  are  as  many  warriors  rush- 
ing on  to  victory.  They  strike  like  lightning,  by  their  zigzag 
impetuosity,  every  projecting  point,  and  instantaneously  attain 
the  goal.  But  the  fiery  zeal  of  the  polemic  is  always  under  the 
control  of  sober  reflection,  and  the  roar  of  battle  is  lost  at  times,  as 
in  1  Cor.  xiii.  in  the  celestial  harmony  of  eternal  love  and  peace. 


§   30.      THE   EPISTLES   OF   PAUL.  103 

We  notice  the  several  Epistles  in  their  most  probable  chrono- 
logical order. 

1.  A.D.  53.  The  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  was 
written  at  Corinth  shortly  after  Paul's  first  visit  to  the  commer- 
cial city  of  Thessalonica  in  Macedonia,  and  the  planting  of  the 
Christian  congregation  there.  It  was  intended  particularly  to 
meet  certain  misapprehensions  of  his  preaching  respecting  the 
glorious  return  of  Christ. 

2.  A.D.  53  or  5-i.  The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians was  sent  from  the  same  place  on  the  same  subject,  with 
further  instruction  respecting  the  appearing  of  Christ  and  pre- 
ceding development  of  the  "  man  of  sin  "  and  the  "  mystery  of 
"iniquity,"  and  with  suitable  exhortations  to  sober,  orderly,  dili- 
gent, and  prayerful  conduct.  It  is  remarkable,  that,  in  thes-e 
very  churches,  where  Christianity  bloomed  so  beautifully  in  its 
first  love,  the  mystery  of  anti-Christian  iniquity  first  appeared  ; 
not,  however,  to  reach  its  maturity  till  the  last  times  of  the 
church. 

3.  A.D.  57.  The  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  was 
composed  in  Ephesus,  shortly  before  Paul's  departure,  about 
Easter,  57.  It  is  more  ethical  and  pastoral  than  dogmatic  and 
theological,  and  gives  us  a  graphic  picture  of  the  lights  and 
shades  of  a  Grecian  church,  rich  in  extraordinary  gifts  of  grace, 
but  troubled  by  the  spirit  of  sect  and  party,  infected  with  the 
desire  for  worldly  wisdom,  with  scepticism,  and  with  moral 
levity,  nay,  to  some  extent  polluted  with  gross  vices,  so  that  the 
apostle  in  his  absence  found  himself  compelled  to  excommuni- 
cate in  form  a  particularly  offensive  member. 

4.  A.D.  57.  The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  was 
written  from  Macedonia  shortly  before  the  author's  intended  per- 
sonal visit  to  the  metropolis  of  Achaia.  It  evidently  comes  from 
a  heart  deeply  agitated  and  anxious  for  the  welfare  of  its  spiritual 
children,  and  opens  to  us  very  freely  the  personal  character  and 
feelings,  the  official  trials  and  joys,  the  noble  pride  and  deep 
humility,  the  holy  earnestness  and  fervent  love,  of  the  great  apos- 
tle of  the  Gentiles. 


104  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

5.  A.D.  56-58.  The  Epistle  to  the  Galatiaxs  was  written 
after  Paul's  second  visit  to  them,  during  or  after  his  long  residence 
in  Ephesus  (54^57) ;  and  was  occasioned  by  the  machinations  of 
hostile  Judaizers.  In  righteous  indignation  against  these  pseudo- 
evangelists  and  troublers  of  the  church,  the  apostle  vindicates 
first  his  apostolic  dignity,  and  then  his  doctrines  of  justification 
by  grace  through  living  faith,  and  of  evangelical  freedom  in 
Christ.  This  Epistle  is  thus  an  apology  for  the  author  himself 
and  for  his  cause,  and  forms  a  most  decided  protest  against  all 
legalistic,  ritualistic,  and  hierarchical  errors  within  the  Christian 
church  ;  the  exegetical  bulwark,  so  to  speak,  of  evangelical  Pro- 
testantism. 

6.  A.D.  58.  A  little  while  before  his  last  journey  to  Jerusalem, 
Paul  sent  from  Corinth  by  the  deaconess  Phebe  a  letter  to  the 
Christian  congregation  in  the  capital  of  the  world.  This  church, 
with  which  he  was  as  yet  personally  unacquainted,  but  which  he 
hoped  soon  to  visit,  had  been  founded  a  considerable  time  before, 
as  it  would  seem,  by  disciples  of  Peter  and  Paul,  and  attained 
afterwards,  partly  through  its  situation,  partly  through  the  per- 
sonal labors  and  martyrdom  of  the  two  leading  ajiostles  there,  a 
vast  importance  and  influence  in  western  Christendom. 

To  this  eminence  of  the  congregation  at  Eome,  the  Epistle  to 
the  KoMANS  corresponds.  It  is  unquestionably  the  most  impor- 
tant doctrinal  book  of  the  New  Testament,  and  justly  stands  at 
the  head  of  the  Epistles  of  Paul.  It  most  comjjletely  and  clearly 
unfolds  the  evangelical  doctrines  of  sin  and  grace,  of  justification 
and  sanctification,  of  faith  and  good  works,  of  peace  and  sonship 
with  God,  and  boldly,  yet  reverently  unveils,  in  part,  the  mys- 
teries of  the  predestination  and -calling  of  Jews  and  Gentiles  to 
the  Gospel  salvation.  It  is  remarkable,  that  this  thoroughly 
evangelical  Epistle  was  written  to  the  mother  congregation  of 
that  Koman  church,  which  in  her  subsequent  development  has 
wandered  so  far  from  its  soteriological  doctrines  into  Jewish 
legalism  and  ritualistic  form. 

7-10.  A.D.  61-G3,  during  his  confinement  at  Rome,  the  venera 
ble  servant  of  Christ  composed  the  four  E2)istles  to  the  CoLOS- 


§   30.      THE   EPISTLES   OF   PAUL.  105 

STAG'S,  Ephesians,  Philippians,  and  Philemon.  The  first 
three  are  as  important  for  the  Christology  and  ecclesiology  of 
Paul,  as  the  Epistles  to  the  Galatians  and  the  Romans  for  his 
anthropology  and  soteriology.  The  short  private  letter  to  Phile- 
mon exhibits  his  characteristic  love  and  courtesy,  and  his  posi- 
tion towards  the  slavery  of  that  day. 

11-13.  The  three  pastoral  epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus 
afford  no  such  internal  marks  of  their  date  as  the  ten  epistles 
thus  far  mentioned,  and  have  left  room  for  very  different  views 
as  to  the  year  of  their  composition.  If  we  accept  the  tradition 
of  a  second  imprisonment  of  Paul  in  Rome,  we  shall  best  put 
the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy  and  the  Epistle  to  Titus  between 
the  first  and  second  imprisonments,  and  shall  thus  seem  to  reach 
the  most  natural  solution  of  some  difl&cult  passages  of  these 
epistles.  But  if  we  reject  that  tradition,  we  must  take  the  year 
56  or  57  as  the  most  probable  date  of  these  two  epistles ;  since, 
from  the  allusions  in  2  Cor.  xii.  13,  14,  and  xiii.  1.  Paul 
most  probably,  during  his  three  years'  residence  in  Ephesus- 
54-57,  made  a  second  journey  to  Corinth,  not  noticed  in  tlie 
Acts,  meantime  visiting  Crete,  and  leaving  Titus  in  charge  of 
the  churches  there.  The  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy  was  evi- 
dently written  while  Paul  was  in  confinement  in  Rome,  whether 
the  first  time  or  a  second,  and  was  the  last  of  all  his  epistles. 
For  the  author  is  distinctly  expecting  the  speedy  close  of  his 
good  fight  of  faith,  and  the  crown  of  righteousness  from  the  hand 
of  his  master.' 

The  three  pastoral  epistles  are  more  personal  and  confidential 
in  their  character  than  those  addressed  to  churches ;  and  this  fact 
explains  many  of  their  peculiarities.  They  contain  Paul's  pas- 
toral theology ;  a  practical  introduction  to  the  founding,  training, 
and  care  of  congregations,  and  to  the  proper  treatment  of  indivi- 
dual souls,  of  old  and  young,  of  widows  and  virgins,  of  back- 
sliders and  heretics.  They  are,  therefore,  of  special  value  for 
their  hints  respecting  the  pastoral  ofiice  and  the  organization  of 
the  church  in  the  apostolic  age. 

'  Comix  2  Tim.  iv.  1,  8. 


106  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

14.  Finally,  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  composed  unques- 
tionably before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  probably  between 
the  years  62  and  64,  is  also  reckoned  among  the  Pauline  books. 
It  is  anon^'mous,  indeed ;  its  Greek  is  more  pure  and  elegant 
than  that  of  Paul's  epistles ;  its  mode  of  handling  the  Christian 
doctrine  is  somewhat  different ;  and  in  ch.  ii.  3,  it  seems  to  betray 
the  hand  of  a  disciple  of  the  apostles,  rather  than  of  an  eye-wit- 
ness of  the  life  of  Jesus.  It  is  a  settled  fact,  too,  that  the  early 
western  church,  after  it  became  acquainted  with  this  epistle,  for 
a  considerable  time  attributed  it  not  to  Paul,  but  either  to  an 
anonymous  author,  or,  as  Tertullian  at  least  did,  to  Barnabas. 
Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  the  epistle  stands  so  completely  on 
Pauline  ground,  particularly  in  regard  to  the  relation  of  Chris- 
tianity to  Judaism ;  it  is  so  uncommonly  rich  and  full  of  the 
unction  of  the  spirit,  and  it  teaches  and  exhorts  with  such  a  tone 
of  authority,  that  we  cannot  be  satisfied  to  ascribe  it  even  to  a 
disciple  of  Paul,  like  Luke,  or  Apollos,  or  Clement,  without 
allowing  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  at  least  an  .indirect 
concern  with  its  contents,  though  not  with  its  literary  form. 
This  view  has  firm  support  in  the  tradition  of  the  eastern 
church,  for  which  the  epistle  was  intended,  and  which  has 
honored  it  from  the  first  as  a  genuine  production  of  Paul ; 
though  the  Alexandrian  fathers  allowed  Luke  a  hand  in  the 
style,  or  considered  him  the  translator  of  a  supposed  Hebrew 
original.  At  all  events  the  epistle  is  plainly  a  genial  product  of 
the  Pauline  spirit,  and  of  the  creative  energy  of  primitive  Chris- 
tianity, and  is  therefore  altogether  worthy  of  its  place  in  the 
canon. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  gives  us  the  true  conception  of 
the  relation  of  the  New  Testament  to  the  Old,  and  unfolds  the 
doctrine  of  the  priestly  ofiice  and  eternal  sacrifice  of  Christ  for 
the  reconciliation  of  the  world.  Its  doctrinal  expositions,  how- 
ever, are  interwoven  throughout  with  pathetic  admonitions  and 
precious  consolations.  The  antlK^r  demonstrates  to  tlie  Jewish 
Christians  of  Palestine  and  the  whole  east  the  infinite  superiority 
of  Christianity  to  Judaism,  and  thus  warns  them  of  the  danger 


§   31.      THE   REVELATION   OF   JOHN.  107 

of  apostasy,  to  wliicli  many  were  tempted  in  those  times  of  per- 
secution and  distress.  It  presents  the  old  Testament,  the  whole 
Levitical  priesthood  and  sacrificial  system,  as  a  symbol  of  the 
"  good  things  "  of  Christianity,  a  shadow,  of  which  the  gospel  is 
the  substance.  It  refers  to  the  Mosaic  economy  as  still  existing, 
but  in  process  of  decay,  and  looks  forward  to  the  fearful  judg- 
ment, whicli  a  few  years  later  destroyed  the  temple  for  ever. 
This  epistle,  like  those  to  the  Colossians  and  Philippians,  from  its 
eminently  christological  character,  forms,  theologically,  a  step- 
ping-stone to  the  writings  of  John. 

§  31.  The  Revelation  of  John. 

The  revelation  of  Christ  by  his  servant  John  respecting  the 
future  trials  and  triumphs  of  his  kingdom,  forms  the  third  or 
prophetic  j)art  of  the  apostolic  literature.  It  stands  as  a  mj^ste- 
rious  seal  at  the  close  of  the  New  Testament,  which,  without 
such  a  book,  would  be  as  incomplete  as  the  Old  Testament  with- 
out the  prophecies  of  Daniel.  It  links  the  apostolic  beginning 
of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  with  its  glorious  completion  in  the  new 
heavens  and  upon  the  new  earth. 

It  was  seen  in  the  Spirit  and  recorded  at  the  divine  command 
during  the  banishment  of  John  on  Patmos,  towards  the  end  of 
the  reign  of  Domitian,  about  the  year  95 ;  not  under  Nero  or 
Gralba,  as  many  modern  critics,  merely  on  internal  grounds, 
assume,  against  the  express  testimony  of  Irenaeus  and  all  ancient 
tradition.  It  differs  considerably  from  the  other  writings  of 
John  in  its  strongly  Hebraistic  mode  of  thought  and  expression ; 
though  in  other  respects  it  strikingly  resembles  them.  The  dif- 
ference arises  partly  from  the  nature  of  the  subject,  which  required 
something  like  the  symbolical  and  figurative,  antique  and  stately 
language  of  a  Zechariah,  an  Ezekiel,  or  a  Daniel ;  partly  from 
the  ecstatic  state  of  the  writer,^  in  which  he  wrote,  as  it  were, 
from  dictation,  with  his  own  mind  much  more  passive  and  recep- 
tive, than  in  the  composition  of  a  historical  or  didactic  book. 

^  £i/  TzvtvjiaTi,  in  distinction  from  Iv  voi,  Rev.  L  10;  comp.  1  Cor.  iv.  14  sqq. 


108  FIRST   PERIOD.    A.D.    1-100. 

The  Apocalypse  combines  tlie  deepest  and  highest  tones  of  the 
Hebrew  prophecy  in  an  overwhelming  harmony,  and  surpasses 
it  in  elevation,  fulness,  and  unity  of  view,  in  progress  of  action, 
and  majesty  of  style,  and,  above  all,  in  the  direct  relation  of  all 
parts  of  the  picture  to  the  central  figure  of  the  crucified  and  now 
glorified  Christ,  who  rules  the  whole  history  of  the  world  and  the 
church,  and  is  alpha  and  omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end.  In 
a  succession  of  visions  and  mysterious  allegories  it  unfolds  before 
the  reader  the  great  epochs  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  to 
the  close  of  its  earthly  development.  Its  burden  is  the  comfort- 
ing truth,  that  the  Lord  comes,  the  Lord  fights,  the  Lord  con- 
quers and  leads  his  church  through  tribulation  and  persecution 
to  certain  victory  and  eternal  glory. 

The  value  of  this  mysterious  work  is  quite  inde2:)endcnt  of  the 
various  learned  and  conflicting  historical  expositions  and  applica- 
tions of  its  prophecies.  The  book  was  designed  not  to  gratify  idle 
curiosity  concerning  the  future,  nor  to  start  presumptuous  specu- 
lations and  mathematical  calculations,  but  for  a  practical  religious 
end.  It  encourages  the  seven  churches  of  Asia,  and  through  them 
the  whole  church  of  all  nations  and  times,  to  watchfulness, 
patience,  fidelity,  and  perseverance  ;  and  comforts  them  in  their 
tribulations  with  the  assurance  of  the  coming  of  Christ,  and  his 
final  triumph  over  all  his  foes.  Prophecy,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  remains  more  or  less  obscure,  until  it  is  fulfilled.  And,  as 
the  Old  Testament  became  clear  only  in  the  New,  so  the  Revela- 
tion of  John  can  be  perfectly  understood  only  in  the  triumphant 
and  glorified  church.  Still,  it  has  been  a  book  of  consolation  and 
hope  to  the  church  militant  in  every  age,  especially  amidst  her 
great  persecutions  and  struggles ;  and  it  will  remain  so,  till  the 
Lord  come  again  in  glory,  and  the  New  Jerusalem  come  down 
from  heaven  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband.  He,  who  can- 
not lie,  assures  his  people :  "  Lo,  I  come  quickly.  Amen."  And 
his  people  answer,  with  the  holy  longing  of  a  bride  for  her  spouse: 
"  Yea :  come,  Lord  Jesus ! " 


32.      CHRISTIA2TITY  AND   INDIVIDUAL   LIFE.  109 


CHAPTER  lY. 

CHRISTIAN  LIFE  AND  WORSHIP. 

Neander  :  Gesch.  der  apost.  K  I.  p.  229-283.  Schaff  :  §  109-123  and  §  137- 
145.  Lange  :  II.  495-533.  Schmid  :  Bibl.  Tlieol.  II.  9-30.  Arnold  : 
Erste  Liebe,  d.  i.  wahre  Abbildung  der  ersten  Christen.  Frkf.  1696. 
Harnack  :  Der  christliche  Gemeindegottesdienst  im  apostolischen  und 
altkatholischen  Zeitalter.     Erl.  1854, 

§  32.  Moral  Power  of  Christianity  over  Individual  Life. 

Christianity  sets  forth  tlie  higliest  standard  of  virtue  and 
piety ;  and  this  not  merely  as  an  object  of  effort  and  hope,  but 
as  a  living  fact  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  whose  life  and 
example  have  far  greater  influence  than  any  maxims  and  pre- 
cepts of  morality.  This  j^erfect  life,  however,  is  not  to  remain 
confined  to  Jesus,  but  is  to  enter  more  and  more  deeply  into  all 
his  followers,  and  to  reveal  itself  more  and  more  widely  among 
them.  From  the  word  and  sj)irit  of  Christ,  living  and  ruling  in 
the  church,  a  constant  stream  of  redeeming,  sanctifying,  and 
glorifying  power  is  to  flow  forth,  till  the  world  be  transformed 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  Cod  become  all  in  all. 

This  power  appears  first  in  the  lives  of  individuals.  The 
apostles  and  primitive  Christians  rose  to  a  morality  and  piety  far 
above  that  of  the  heroes  of  heathen  virtue  and  even  that  of  the 
Jewish  saints.  Their  daily  walk  was  a  living  union  with  Christ, 
ever  seeking  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  men.  Many 
of  the  cardinal  virtues,  humility,  for  example,  and  love  for  ene- 
mies, were  unknown  before  the  Christian  day. 

Peter,  Paul,  and  John  represent  the  various  leading  forms  or 
types  of  Christian  piety,  as  well  as  of  theology.     They  were  not 


110  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

without  defect,  indeed ;  yet  they  were  as  nearly  perfect  as  It  was 
possible  to  be  in  a  sinful  world ;  and  the  moral  influence  of  their 
lives  and  writings  on  all  generations  of  the  church  is  absolutely 
immeasurable.  Each  exhibits  the  spirit  and  life  of  Christ  in  a 
peculiar  way.  For  the  gospel  does  not  destroy,  but  redeems  and 
sanctifies  the  natural  talents  and  tempers  of  men.  It  consecrates 
the  fire  of  a  Peter,  the  energy  of  a  Paul,  and  the  pensiveness  of 
a  John  to  the  same  service  of  God.  It  most  strikingly  displays 
its  new-creating  power  in  the  sudden  conversion  of  the  apostle  of 
the  Gentiles  from  a  most  dangerous  foe  to  a  most  efiicient  friend  of 
the  church.  Upon  Paul  the  Spirit  of  God  came  as  an  overwhelm- 
ing storm ;  upon  John,  as  the  zephyr  and  the  vernal  sun.  But 
in  all  dwelt  the  same  new,  supernatural,  divine  principle  of  life. 
All  are  living  apologies  for  Christianity,  whose  force  no  truth- 
lovino;  heart  can  resist. 

Notice,  too,  the  moral  effects  of  the  gospel  in  the  female  cha- 
racters of  the  New  Testament.  Christianity  raises  woman  from 
the  sla^nsh  j^osition  which  she  held  both  in  Judaism  and  in  hea- 
thendom, to  her  true  moral  dignity  and  importance ;  makes  her 
an  heir  of  the  same  salvation  with  man,^  and  opens  to  her  a  field 
for  the  noblest  and  loveliest  virtues,  without  thrusting  her,  after 
the  manner  of  modern  pseudo-philanthropic  schemes  of  emanci- 
pation, out  of  her  appropriate  sphere  of  private,  domestic  life, 
and  thus  stripping  her  of  her  fairest  ornament  and  peculiar 
charm-. 

The  virgin  Mary  marks  the  turning-point  in  the  history  of  the 
female  sex.  As  the  mother  of  Christ,  the  second  Adam,  slie  cor- 
responds to  Eve,  and  is,  in  a  higher  sense  than  she  was,  the 
mother  of  all  living.^  In  her,  the  "blessed  among  women,"  the 
curse,  which  had  hung  over  the  era  of  the  fall,  was  removed,  and 
her  whole  sex  was  blessed.  She  was  not,  indeed,  free  from  actual 
and  native  sin,  as  is  now  taught,  without  the  slightest  ground 
in  scripture,  by  the  Eoman  church  since  the  8tli  of  December, 
1854.  On  the  contrary,  as  a  daughter  of  Adam,  she  needed, 
like  all  men,  redemption  and  sanctification  through  Christ,  the 

'  1  Pet.  iii.  1.     Gal.  iii.  28.  '  Gen.  iii.  20. 


§   32.      CHRISTIANITY  AND   SOCIETY.  Ill 

sole  autlior  of  sinless  holiness.  But  in  the  mother  and  educator 
of  the  Saviour  of  the  world  we  no  doubt  may  and  should  revere, 
though  not  worship,  the  model  of  female  Christian  virtue,  of  purity, 
tenderness,  simplicity,  humility,  perfect  obedience  to  God,  and  un- 
reserved surrender  to  Christ.  Next  to  her  we  have  a  lovely  group 
of  female  disciples  and  friends  around  the  Lord :  Mary,  the  wife 
of  Cleophas ;  Salome,  the  mother  of  James  and  John ;  Mary  of 
Bethany,  who  sat  at  Jesus'  feet ;  her  busy  and  hospitable  sister, 
Martha ;  Mary  of  Magdala,  whom  the  Lord  healed  of  a  demo- 
niacal possession ;  the  sinner,  who  washed  his  feet  with  her  tears  of 
penitence  and  wiped  them  with  her  hair ;  and  all  the  noble  women, 
who  ministered  to  the  Son  of  man  in  his  earthly  poverty  with  the 
gifts  of  their  love,^  lingered  last  around  his  cross,'^  and  were  the 
first  at  his  open  sepulchre  on  the  morning  of  the  resurrection.^ 

Henceforth,  we  find  woman  no  longer  a  mere  slave  of  man 
and  tool  of  lust,  but  the  pride  and  joy  of  her  husband,  the  fond 
mother  training  her  children  to  virtue  and  godliness,  the  orna- 
ment and  treasure  of  the  famil}^,  the  faithful  sister,  the  zealous 
servant  of  the  congregation  in  every  work  of  Christian  charity, 
the  sister  of  mercy,  the  martyr  with  superhuman  courage,  the 
guardian  angel  of  peace,  the  example  of  purity,  humility,  gentle- 
ness, patience,  love,  and  fidelity  unto  death.  Even  the  heathen 
Libanius,  the  enthusiastic  eulogist  of  old  Grecian  culture,  must 
exclaim,  as  he  looked  at  the  mother  of  Chrysostom :  "  What  wo- 
men the  Christians  have  I" 

§  83.  Influence  of  Christianity  on  Society. 
See  special  literature  sub  §  86. 

1.  Thus  raising  the  female  sex  to  its  true  freedom  and  digmty, 
Christianity  transforms  and  sanctifies  the  entire  family  life.  It 
abolishes  polygamy,  and  makes  monogamy  the  proper  form  of 
marriage ;  presents  the  mutual  duties  of  husband  and  wife,  and 
of  parents  and  children,  in  their  true  light,  and  exhibits  marriage 
as  a  copy  of  the  mystical  union  of  Christ  with  his  bride,  the 

'  Luke  viii.  3.  "^  John  xix.  15.  '  Matt,  xxviii.  1.     John  sx.  1. 


112  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

clmrcli ;  thus  imparting  to  it  a  hoi  j  character  and  a  heavenl}'  end.' 
Henceforth  the  family,  though  still  rooted,  as  before,  in  the 
soil  of  nature,  in  the  mystery  of  sexual  love,  is  spiritualized, 
and  becomes  a  nursery  of  the  purest  and  noblest  virtues,  a 
miniature  church,  where  the  father,  as  priest,  daily  leads  his 
household  into  the  pastures  of  the  divine  word,  and  offers  to  the 
Lord  the  sacrifice  of  their  common  petition,  intercession,  thanks- 
giving, and  praise. 

With  the  married  state,  the  single  also,  as  an  exception  to  the 
rule,  is  consecrated  by  the  gospel  to  the  service  of  the  kingdom 
of  God ;  as  we  see  in  a  Paul,  a  Barnabas,  and  a  John,"  and  in  the 
history  of  missions  and  of  ascetic  piety. 

2.  To  Christianity  also  we  owe  the  gradual  extinction  of 
SLAVERY.  This  evil  has  rested  as  a  curse  on  all  nations,  and  at 
the  time  of  Christ  the  greater  part  of  the  existing  race  was  bound 
in  beastly  degradation ;  even  in  civilized  Greece  and  Rome  the 
slaves  being  far  more  numerous  than  the  free-born  and  the  freed. 
The  greatest  philosophers  of  antiquity  vindicated  slavery  as  a 
natural  and  necessary  institution ;  and  Aristotle  declared  all  bar- 
barians to  be  slaves  by  birth,  fit  for  nothing  but  obedience. 
Judaism,  indeed,  stood  on  higher  ground  than  this ;  yet  it  tole- 
rated slavery,  though  with  wise  precautions  against  maltreat- 
ment, and  with  the  significant  ordinance,  that  in  the  year  of 
jubilee,  which  prefigured  the  renovation  of  the  theocracy,  all 
slaves  should  go  frec.^ 

This  system  of  permanent  oppression  and  moral  degradation 
the  gospel  opposes  rather  by  its  whole  spirit,  than  by  any  special 
law.  It  nowhere  recommends  outward  violence  and  revolution- 
ary measures,  but  provides  an  internal  radical  cure,  which  first 
mitigates  the  evil,  takes  away  its  sting,  and  effects  at  last  its 
entire  abolition.  Christianity  aims,  first  of  all,  to  redeem  man, 
without  regard  to  rank  or  condition,  from  that  worse  bondage, 
the  curse  of  sin,  and  to  give  him  true  spiritual  freedom ;  it  con- 
firms the  original  unity  of  all  men  in  the  image  of  God,  and 

'  Comp.  Eph.  V.  22-33. 

"  Comp.  Matt.  xix.  10-12.     1  (!or.  vii.  7  sqq.     Rfv.  xiv.  -i.         '  Lev.  xxv.  10. 


§   33.      CHKISTIANITY  AND   SOCIETY.  113 

teacTies  the  common  redemption  and  spiritual  equality  of  all  be- 
fore God  in  Christ;^  it  insists  on  love  as  the  highest  duty  and 
virtue,  which  itself  inwardly  levels  social  distinctions;  and  it 
addresses  the  comfort  and  consolation  of  tlie  gospel  particularly 
to  all  the  poor,  the  persecuted,  and  the  oppressed.  Paul  sent  back 
to  his  earthly  master  the  fugitive  slave,  Onesimus,  whom  he  had 
converted  to  Christ  and  to  his  duty,  but  expressly  charged  Phile- 
mon to  receive  and  treat  the  servant  hereafter  as  a  beloved  brother 
in  Christ,  yea,  as  the  apostle's  own  heart.  It  is  impossible  to 
conceive  of  a  more  radical  cure  of  the  evil  in  those  times  and 
within  the  limits  of  established  laws  and  customs. 

This  Christian  spirit  of  love,  humanity,  justice,  and  freedom, 
as  it  pervades  the  whole  New  Testament,  has  also,  in  fact,  gra- 
dually abolished  the  institution  of  slavery  in  almost  all  civilized 
nations,  and  will  not  rest  till  all  the  chains  of  sin  and  misery  be 
broken,  till  the  personal  and  eternal  dignity  of  man  redeemed 
by  Christ  be  universally  acknowledged,  and  the  evangelical  free- 
dom and  brotherhood  of  men  be  perfectly  attained. 

3.  Christianity  enters  also  with  its  leaven-like  virtue  the 
whole  CIVIL  and  social  life  of  a  people,  and  leads  it  on  the  path 
of  progress  in  all  genuine  civilization.  It  nowhere  prescribes, 
indeed,  a  particular  form  of  government,  and  carefully  abstains 
from  all  improper  interference  with  political  and  secular  affairs. 
It  accommodates  itself  to  monarchical  and  republican  institutions, 
and  can  flourish  even  under  oppression  and  persecution  from  the 
state,  as  the  history  of  the  first  three  centuries  sufiiciently  shows. 
But  it  teaches  the  true  nature  and  aim  of  all  government ;.  it  pro- 
motes the  abolition  of  bad  laws  and  institutions,  and  the  esta- 
blishment of  good ;  it  is  in  principle  opposed  alike  to  despotism 
and  anarchy  ;  it  tends,  under  every  form  of  government,  towards 
order,  propriety,  justice,  humanity,  and  peace ;  it  fills  the  ruler 
with  a  sense  of  responsibility  to  the  supreme  king  and  judge,  ^nd 
the  ruled  with  the  spirit  of  virtue  and  piety. 

4.  Finally,  the  Gospel  reforms  the  international  relations  by 
breaking  down  the  partition- walls  of  prejudice  and  hatred  among 

'Gal.  ui.  28.      Col.  iiL  IL 


114  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

the  dilFerent  nations  and  races.  It  united  in  brotherly  fellowship 
and  harmony  even  the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles,  once  so  bitterly 
sepjjLrate  and  hostile.  The  spirit  of  Christianity,  truly  catholic  or 
universal,  rises  above  all  national  distinctions.  Like  the  con- 
gregation at  Jerusalem,'  the  whole  apostolic  church  was  of  "  one 
heart  and  of  one  soul."  It  had  its  occasional  troubles,  indeed, 
temporary  collisions  43etween  a  Peter  and  a  Paul,  between  Jew- 
ish and  Gentile  Christians ;  but  instead  of  wondering  at  these, 
we  must  admire  the  constant  victory  of  the  spirit  of  harmony  and 
love  over  the  remaining  forces  of  the  old  nature  and  of  a  former 
state  of  things.  The  poor  Gentile  Christians  of  Paul's  churches 
in  Greece,  sent  their  charities  to  the  poor  Jewish  Christians  in 
Palestine,  and  thus  proved  their  gratitude  for  the  gospel  and  its 
fellowship,  which  they  received  from  that  mother  church.'  The 
Christians  all  felt  themselves  to  be  "  brethren,"  were  constantly 
impressed  with  their  common  origin  and  their  common  destiny,^ 
and  considered  it  their  sacred  duty  to  "  keep  the  unity  of  the 
spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace."*  Wliile  the  Jews,  in  their  spiritual 
pride  and  "  odium  generis  humani,"  abhorred  all  Gentiles  ;  while 
the  Greeks  despised  all  barbarians  as  only  half  men  ;  and  while 
the  Romans,  with  all  their  might  and  policy,  could  bring  their 
conquered  nations  only  into  a  mechanical  conglomeration,  a  giant 
body  without  a  soul ;  Christianity,  without  violence  or  money,  by 
purely  moral  means,  has  founded  a  universal  spiritual  empire  and 
a  communion  of  saints,  which  stands  unshaken  to  this  day,  and 
will  spread  till  it  embrace  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  as  its  living 
members,  and  reconcile  all  to  God. 

§  3-1.  Tlie  Spiritual  Gifts. 

Comp.  the  Commentaric-s  on  1  Cor.  12-14,  and  Rom.  xii.  3-9. 

To  aid  it  in  this  regeneration  of  individual  and  social  life,  the 
apostolic  church  was  endowed  with  all  needful  gifts  of  grace,  a 
splendid  panoply  against  Jewish  and  Gentile  opposition.     These 

»  Acts  iv.  32.  8  Gal.  ii.  10;  2  Cor.  ix.  12-15 ;  Rom.  xv.  25-27. 

»  GaL  iiL  28.  ■*  Eph.  iv.  3. 


§   34.      THE  SPIRITUAL   GIFTS.  115 

gifts  or  cliarisms,'  are  certain  special  energies  and  manifestations 
of  tlie  Holy  Grhost  in  believers  for  the  common  good.^  They  are 
supernatural,  therefore,  in  their  origin ;  but  in  operation  they  fol- 
low all  the  mental  and  moral  faculties  of  the  man,  raising  those 
faculties  to  higher  activity,  and  consecrating  them  to  the  service 
of  Christ 

They  may  be  divided  into  tliree  classes :  first,  gifts  of  hnoiv- 
hdge^  mainly  theoretical  in  their  character,  and  concerned 
primarily  with  doctrine  and  theology  ;  secondly,  gifts  of  feeling^ 
appearing  chiefly  in  divine  worship  and  for  immediate  edifica- 
tion ;  and  thirdly,  gifts  of  will,  devoted  to  the  practical  organiza- 
tion, government,  and  discipline  of  the  church.  They  are  not, 
however,  abstractly  separate,  but  work  together  harmoniously  for 
the  common  purpose  of  edifjdng  the  body  of  Christ.  In  the 
New  Testament  ten  charisms  are  specially  mentioned;  the  first 
four  have  to  do  chiefly,  though  not  exclusively,  with  doctrine, 
the  next  two  with  worship,  and  the  remaining  four  with  govern- 
ment and  practical  afiairs. 

1.  The  gift  of  WISDOM  and  kxowledge,'  or  of  deep  insight  into 
the  nature  and  system  of  the  divine  word  and  the  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  salvation. 

2.  The  gift  of  teaching,"  or  of  practically  applying  the  gift  of 
knowledge ;  the  power  of  clearly  expounding  the  Scriptures  for 
the  instruction  and  edification  of  the  people. 

3.  The  gift  of  prophecy,''  akin  to  the  two  preceding,  but  ad- 
dressed rather  to  pious  feeling  than  to  speculative  reflection,  and 
employing  commonly  the  language  of  higher  inspiration,  rather 
than  that  of  logical  exposition  and  demonstration.  It  is  by  no 
means  confined  to  the  prediction  of  future  events,  but  consists  in 
disclosing  in  general  the  hidden  counsel  of  God,  the  deeper  sense 
of  the  scriptures,  the  secret  state  of  the  heart,  the  abyss  of  sin, 
and  the  glory  of  redeeming  grace.  It  appears  particularly  in 
creative  periods,  times  of  mighty  revival ;  while  the  gifi;  ofteacli- 
ing  suits  better  a  quiet  state  of  natural  growth  in  the  church. 

1  ■)^apiojiaTa,  '  Comp.  1  Cor.  sii.  1  ;  siv.  12.  ^  o-o^fa  and  yi/wo-ij. 


116  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

Both  act  not  only  in  the  sphere  of  doctrine  and  theology,  but 
also  in  worship,  and  miglit  in  this  view  be  reckoned  also  among 
the  gifts  of  feeling. 

4.  The  gift  of  discerning  spirits,'  serving  mainly  as  a  guide 
to  the  third  gift,  by  discriminating  between  true  prophets  and 
false,  between  divine  inspiration  and  a  merely  human  or  satanic 
enthusiasm.  In  a  wider  sense  it  is  a  deep  discernment  in  se^Da- 
rating  truth  and  error,  and  in  judging  of  moral  and  religious  charac- 
ter ;  a  holy  criticism  still  ever  necessary  to  the  purity  of  Christian 
doctrine  and  the  administration  of  the  discipline  of  the  church. 

5.  The  gift  of  tongues,"  or  of  an  utterance  proceeding  from 
a  state  of  unconscious  ecstasy  in  the  speaker,  and  unintelligible 
to  the  hearer  unless  interpreted — thus  differing  from  prophecy, 
which  requires  a  highly  elevated  but  self-conscious  state  of  feel- 
ing, serves  directly  to  profit  the  congregation,  and  is  therefore 
preferred  by  Paul.^  The  speaking  with  tongues  is  an  involun- 
tary psalm-like  prayer  or  song,  uttered  from  a  spiritual  trance, 
and  in  a  peculiar  language  inspired  by  the  Iloly  Ghost.  The 
soul  is  almost  entirely  passive,  an  instrument  on  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  plays  his  heavenly  melodies.  This  gift  has,  therefore,  pro- 
perly, nothing  to  do  with  the  spread  of  the  church  among  foreign 
peojoles  and  in  foreign  languages,  but  is  purely  an  act  of  wor- 
ship, for  the  edification  primarily  of  the  speaker  himself,  and 
indirectly,  through  interpretation,  for  the  hearers.  It  appeared 
first,  indeed,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  but  hefore  Peter's  address 
to  the  people,  which  was  the  proper  mission-sermon ;  and  we 
meet  with  it  afterwards  in  the  house  of  Cornelius  and  in  the 
Corinthian  congregation,  as  a  means  of  edification  for  believers, 
and  not,  at  least  not  directly,  for  unbelieving  hearers,  although 
it  served  to  them  as  a  significant  sign,*  arresting  their  attention 
to  the  supernatural  power  in  the  church. 

6.  The  gift  of  interpretation,'  the  sujiplemcnt  of  the  glosso- 
lalia,  making  that  gift  profitable  to  the  congregation  by  translat- 

'  i^aKpiaui  TTfCMfidraJv. 

'   KdivaXi  or  Iripaii  y'Suiacats  XaXru',  OF  Simply,  ■y'XtJaaais,  SOmetioieS,  yXtiaai;  ^a\eTii, 

3  1  Cor.  xiv.  1-5.  *  oTj/itiji'.    1  Cor.  xiv.  22.  *  Ipfinvein  )  Xuacdv. 


§   34,      THE   SPIRITUAL    GIFTS.  117 

ing  tlie  prayers  and  songs  from  the  language  of  the  spirit  and  of 
ecstasy'  into  that  of  the  understanding  and  of  sober  self-conscious- 
ness.* The  preponderance  of  reflection  here  puts  this  gift  as 
properly  in  the  first  class,  as  in  the  second. 

7.  The  gift  of  ministry  and  help,'  that  is,  of  special  qualifi- 
cation primarily  for  the  office  of  deacon  and  deaconess,  or  for  the 
regular  ecclesiastical  care  of  the  poor  and  the  sick,  and,  in  the 
wide  sense,  for  all  labors  of  Christian  charity  and  philanthropy. 

8.  The  gift  of  church  government  and  the  care  of  souls,* 
indispensable  to  all  pastors  and  rulers  of  the  church,  above  all 
to  the  apostles  and  apostolic  men,  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of 
their  respective  fields  of  labor.  Peter  warns  his  co-presbyters 
against  the  temptation  to  hierarchical  arrogance  and  tyranny 
over  conscience,  of  which  so  many  priests,  bishops,  patriarchs, 
and  popes  have  since  been  guilty;  and  points  them  to  the 
sublime  example  of  the  great  Shepherd  and  Archbishop,  who,  in 
infinite  love,  laid  down  his  life  for  the  sheep.* 

9.  The  gift  of  miracles,'  or  the  power  possessed  by  the 
apostles  and  apostolic  men,  like  Stephen,  to  heal  all  sorts  of 
physical  maladies,  to  cast  out  devils,  to  raise  the  dead,  and  per- 
form other  similar  works,  in  virtue  of  an  extraordinary  energy 
of  faith,  by  word,  prayer,  and  the  laying  on  of  hands  in  the 
name  of  Jesus,  and  for  his  glory.  These  miracles  were  outward 
credentials  and  seals  of  the  divine  mission  of  the  apostles  in  a 
time  and  among  a  people,  which  required  such  sensible  helps  to 
faith; 

10.  Finally,  the  gift  of  love,  the  greatest,  most  precious,  most 
useful,  and  most  needful  of  all,  described  and  extolled  by  St. 
Paul  in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  1  Corinthians  with  the  pen  of 
an  angel  in  the  vision  and  enjoyment  of  the  God  of  infinite  love 
himself.  As  faith  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  charisms,  so  love  is 
not  properly  a  separate  gift,  but  the  soul  of  all  the  gifts,  guard- 
ing them  from  abuse  for  selfish  and  ambitious  purposes,  making 

'  Of  the  TTfcvficL,  *  Of  the  vovt.  ^  Staicovia,  di/Ti'Sriipcii. 

*  Kv/Sepfficet;,  gubemationes.  5  i  pet.  v.  1-4. 

'^apiiTjia  lafiarioVj  Siyajitg  arijidotv  kol  repaTOiv, 


118  FIRST   PERIOD.    A.D.    1-100. 

ttem  available  for  the  common  good,  ruling,  uniting,  and  com- 
pleting them.  It  alone  gives  them  their  true  value,  and  without 
love  even  the  speaking  with  tongues  of  angels,  and  a  faith 
which  removes  mountains,  are  nothing  before  God.  As  love  is 
the  most  needful  of  all  the  gifts  on  earth,  so  it  will  also  outlast 
all  the  others,  and  be  the  ornament  and  joy  of  the  saints  in 
heaven.  For  love  is  the  inmost  essence,  the  heart,  as  it  were,  of 
God,  the  ground  of  all  his  attributes,  and  the  motive  of  all  his 
works.  It  is  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  creation,  redemption, 
and  sanctification — the  link  which  unites  us  with  the  triune  God, 
the  cardinal  virtue  of  Christianity,  the  fulfilUng  of  the  law,  the 
bond  of  perfcctness,  and  the  fountain  of  bliss. 

§  35.  Tlie  Christian  WorsJiij)^  and  its  Rtlation  to  the  Jewish. 

Christian  worship,  or  cultus,  is  the  public  adoration  of  God  in 
the  name  of  Christ ;  the  celebration  of  the  communion  of 
believers  as  a  congregation  with  their  heavenly  head,  for  the 
jDromotion  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  for  the  growth  and 
enjoyment  of  spiritual  life. 

The  disciples  assembled  at  first  in  the  temple,  and  followed  as 
closely  as  possible  the  venerable  forms  of  the  Jewish  cultus, 
which  in  truth  were  divinely  ordained,  and  were  an  expressive 
type  of  the  Christian  worship.  So  far  as  we  know,  the  Jewish 
Christians  of  the  first  generation,  at  least  in  Palestine,  scrupu- 
lously observed  the  Sabbath,  the  annual  Jewish  feasts,  and  the 
whole  Mosaic  ritual,  and  celebrated,  in  addition  to  these,  the 
Christian  Sunday,  the  death  and  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord, 
and  the  holy  supper.  But  this  union,  which  they  struggled  to 
maintain  with  the  cultus  of  their  fathers,  was  gradually  weak- 
ened by  the  stubborn  opposition  of  the  Jews,  and  was  at  last 
entirely  broken  by  the  destruction  of  the  temple. 

In  the  Gentile-Christian  congregations  founded  by  Paul,  the 
worship  took  from  the  beginning  a  more  independent  form.  The 
essential  elements  of  the  Old  Testament  service  were  transferred, 
indeed,  but  divested  of  their  narrow  legal  character,  and  trans- 


§   36.      THE   SEVERAL   PARTS   OF   WORSHIP.  119 

formed  by  tlie  spirit  of  tlie  gospel.  Thus  tlie  Jewisli  Sabbatli 
passed  into  tlie  Christian  Sunday ;  the  typical  Passover  and 
Pentecost  became  feasts  of  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ, 
and  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  bloody  sacrifices 
gave  place  to  the  thankful  remembrance  and  appropriation  of 
the  one,  all-sufficient,  and  eternal  sacrifice  of  Christ  on  the  cross, 
and  to  the  personal  offering  of  j)rayer,  intercession,  and  entire 
self-devotion  to  the  service  of  the  Eedeemer ;  on  the  ruins  of  the 
temple  made  without  hands  arose  the  never-ceasing  worship  of 
the  omnipresent  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

So  early  as  the  close  of  the  apostolic  period  this  more  free  and 
spiritual  cultus  of  Christianity  had  no  doubt  become  well  nigh 
universal ;  yet  many  Jewish  elements,  especially  in  the  eastern 
church,  remain  to  this  day. 

§  36.   The  Several  Parts  of  WorshijJ- 

The  several  parts  of  public  worship  in  the  time  of  the  ajDOstles 
were  as  follows : 

1.  The  PREACHING  of  the  gospel.  This  appears  in  the  first 
period  mostly  in  the  form  of  a  missionary  address  to  the  uncon- 
verted ;  that  is,  a  simple,  living  presentation  of  the  main  facts  of 
the  life  of  Jesus,  with  practical  exhortation  to  repentance  and 
conversion.  Christ  crucified  and  risen  was  the  luminous  centre, 
whence  a  sanctifying  light  was  shed  on  all  the  relations  of  life. 
Gushing  forth  from  a  fall  heart,  this  preaching  went  to  the  heart ; 
and  springing  from  an  inward  life,  it  kindled  life,  a  new,  divine 
life,  in  the  susceptible  hearers.  It  was  revival  preaching  in  the 
purest  sense.  Of  this  primitive  Christian  testimony  several  exam- 
ples from  Peter  and  Paul  are  preserved  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles. 

The  epistles  also  may  be  regarded  in  the  wider  sense  as  ser- 
mons, addressed,  however,  to  behevers,  and  designed  to  nourish 
the  Christian  life  already  planted. 

'  Comp.  Jolm  ii.  19  ;  iv.  23  sqq. 


120  FIRST   PERIOD.    A.D.   1-100. 

2.  The  READING  of  portions  of  the  Old  Testament,^  witli  prac- 
tical exposition  and  application;  transferred  from  the  Je^^'isll 
synagogue  into  the  Cliristian  churcli.^  Also  lessons  from  the 
New  Testament;  that  is,  from  the  canonical  gospels  and  the 
apostolic  epistles,  most  of  which  were  addressed  to  whole  congre- 
gations and  originally  intended  for  public  use.^  After  the  death 
of  the  apostles  their  writings  became  doubly  important  to  the 
church,  as  the  substitute  for  their  oral  instruction  and  exhortation, 
and  were  much  more  used  in  worship  than  the  Old  Testament. 

3.  Prayer,  in  its  various  forms  of  petition,  intercession,  and 
thanksgiving.  This  descended  likewise  from  Judaism,  and  in 
fact  belongs  essentially  even  to  all  heathen  religions ;  but  now 
it  began  to  be  offered  in  childlike  confidence  to  a  reconciled 
Father  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  for  all  classes  and  conditions, 
even  for  enemies  and  persecutors.  The  first  Christians  accom- 
panied every  important  act  of  their  public  and  private  life  with 
this  holy  rite,  and  Paul  requires  his  readers  to  "  pray  without 
ceasing."  On  solemn  occasions  they  joined  fasting  with  prayer, 
as  a  help  to  devotion,  though  it  is  nowhere  directly  enjoined  in 
the  New  Testament.'*  That,  besides  free  prayer  according  to 
special  wants  and  circumstances,  of  which  we  have  an  example 
in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Acts,  they  used  also  standing  forms,  may 
be  inferred  with  certainty  from  the  Jewish  usage,  from  the  Lord's 
direction  respecting  his  model  prayer,^  from  the  strong  sense  of 
fellowsliip  among  the  first  Christians,  and  finally  from  the  litur- 
gical spirit  of  the  ancient  church,  which  could  not  have  so 
generally  prevailed  both  in  the  east  and  the  west  without  some 
apostolic  and  post-apostolic  precedent. 

4.  The  SONG,  a  form  of  prayer,  in  the  festive  dress  of  poetry 
and  the  elevated  language  of  inspiration,  raising  the  congi-egation 
to  the  liighest  pitch  of  devotion,  and  giving  it  a  part  in  the  hea- 
venly harmonies  of  the  saints.  This  jiassed  immediately,  with 
the  psalms  of  the  Old  Testament,  those  inexhaustible  treasures 

'  The  Paraschioth  and  ITaplitorotli,  as  tlicy  were  called. 

»  Comp.  Acta  xiiL  15;   xv.  '21.  '  1  The.ss.  v.  27.     Col.  iv.  16. 

*  Comp.  Matt  Lx.  15.  »  Matt.  vi.  9.     Luke  xi.  1,  2. 


§   36.      THE  SEVERAL   PARTS   OF  WORSHIP.  121 

of  spiritual  experience,  edification,  and  comfort,  from  tlie  temple 
and  the  synagogue  into  the  Christian  church.  The  Lord  liimself 
inaugurated  psalmody  into  the  new  covenant  at  the  institution 
of  the  Holy  Supper,^  and  Paul  expressly  enjoined  the  singing  of 
"psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,"  as  a  means  of  social 
edification.^  But  to  this  precious  inheritance  from  the  past, 
whose  full  value  was  now  for  the  first  time  understood  in  the 
light  of  the  New  Testament  revelation,  the  church,  in  the  enthu- 
siasm of  her  first  love,  added  original,  specifically  Christian 
psalms,  hymns,  doxologies,  and  benedictions,  which  afforded  the 
richest  material  for  sacred  poetry  and  music  in  succeeding  cen- 
turies ;  the  song  of  the  heavenly  hosts,  for  example,  at  the  birth 
of  the  Saviour  f  the  "  Nunc  dimittis"  of  Simeon;*  the  "  Magnifi- 
cat" of  the  Virgin  Mary;^  the  "Benedictus"  of  Zacharias:^  the 
thanksgiving  of  Peter  after  his  miraculous  deliverance  f  the 
sj)eaking  with  tongues  in  the  apostolic  churches,  which,  whether 
song  or  prayer,  was  always  in  the  elevated  language  of  enthu- 
siasm ;  the  fragments  of  hymns  scattered  through  Paul's  epistles  f 
and  the  lyrical  and  liturgical  passages,  the  doxologies  and  anti- 
phonies  of  the  Apocalypse.^ 

5.  Confession  of  faith.  All  the  above-mentioned  acts  of 
worship  are  also  acts  of  faith.  The  first  express  confession  of 
faith  is  the  testimony  of  Peter,  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God.  The  next  is  the  trinitarian  baptismal  formula. 
Out  of  this  gradually  grew  the  so-called  Apostles'  Creed,  which 
is  also  trinitarian  in  structure,  but  gives  the  confession  of  Christ 
the  central  and  largest  place.  Though  not  traceable  in  its  pre- 
sent shape  above  the  third  century,  and  found  in  the  second  in 
different  longer  or  shorter  forms,  it  is  in  substance  altogether  apos- 
tolic, and  exhibits  an  incomparable  summary  of  the  leading  facts 
in  the  revelation  of  the  triune  God  from  the  creation  of  the  world 
to  the  resurrection  of  the  body ;   and  that  in  a  form  intelligible 

'  Com.  Matt.  xxvi.  30.     Mark  xiv.  26.  '  Eph.  v.  19.     Col.  iii.  16. 

^  The  "  Gloria,"  Luke  ii.  14.  ♦  Luke  iL  29.        *  Luke  i.  46  sqq. 

^  Luke  i.  68  sqq.  »  Acts  iv.  24-30.     Comp.  Ps.  ii. 

"  Eph.  V.  14      1  Tim.  iiL  16.     2  Tim.  ii.  11,  "  L  4-8 ;  v.  9-14 ;  xL  15-19  etc. 


122  FIRST  PERIOD.    A.D.   1-100. 

to  all,  and  admirably  suited  for  public  worship  and  catechetical 
use. 

6.  Finally,  the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  or  sacred 
rites,  by  which,  under  appropriate  symbols  and  visible  signs, 
spiritual  gifts  and  invisible  grace  are  represented,  sealed,  and 
applied  to  the  worthy  participators. 

The  two  sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper,  the 
antitypes  of  circumcision  and  the  passover  under  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, were  instituted  by  Christ  as  ef&cacious  signs,  pledges,  and 
means  of  the  grace  of  the  new  covenant.  They  are  related  to 
each  other  as  regeneration  and  sanctification,  or  as  the  beginning 
and  the  growth  of  the  Christian  life. 

§  37.   Baptism. 

Comp.  the  commeniaries  on  Matt,  xxviii.  19 ;    Mark  xvi.  IG ;    John  iii.  5 ; 
Acts  ii.  38,  viii.  13,  16,  18,  37;    Rom.  vi.  4;    Gal.  iii.  27;    Tit.  iii.  5; 

1  Pet.  iii.  21.— F.  Brenner  (R.  Oath.) :  Geschichthche  Darstellung  der 
Verrichtung  der  Taufe  von  Christus  bis  aui"  unsere  Zeiten.  Bamb.  1818. 
HoFLiNG  (Lutheran):    Das  Sacrament  der  Taufe.     Erl.  1846  and  '48. 

2  vols.  Samuel  Miller  (Presbyterian) :  Infant  Baptism  Scriptural  and 
Reasonable ;  and  Baptism  by  Sprinkling  or  Affusion,  the  most  Suitable 
and  Edifying  Mode.  Philad.  1840.  Alex.  Carson  (Baptist) :  Baptism 
in  its  Mode  and  Subjects.  5th  Amer.  ed.  1850.  G.  D.  Armstrong 
(Presbyt.)  :  The  Doctrine  of  Baptisms.     N.  York,  1857. 

Baptism  in  the  name  of  the  triune  God  was  solemnly  appointed 
by  Christ,  shortly  before  his  ascension,  to  be  the  sign  and  seal  of 
discijjleship  under  him,  the  rite  of  initiation  into  the  covenant  of 
grace.  It  is  the  sacrament  of  repentance,  of  remission  of  sins, 
and  of  the  implanting  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and,  in  the  nature  of 
the  case,  to  be  received  but  once.  It  incorporates  the  penitent 
sinner  in  the  church,  and  entitles  him  to  all  the  privileges,  and 
binds  him  to  all  the  duties  of  this  communion.  Where  this  con- 
dition of  repentance  and  faith  is  wanting,  the  blessing,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  supper  and  the  preaching  of  the  word,  is  turned  into  a 
curse,  and  what  God  designs  as  a  savor  of  life  unto  life,  becomes, 
through  the  abuse  of  man,  a  savor  of  death  unto  death. 

The  first  administration  of  this  sacrament  in  its  full  Christian 


§  37.    BAPTis^r.  123 

sense  took  place  on  the  birtli-day.of  tlie  clinreb,  after  tlie  first 
independent  preaching  of  the  apostles.  The  baj)tism  of  John 
was  more  of  a  negative  sort,  and  only  preparatory  to  -the  baptism 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire.  Though  in  theory  Chris- 
tian baptism  coincides  with  regeneration  as  the  corresponding 
act  of  inward  cleansing  and  renewal,  yet  in  the  New  Testament 
we  find,  in  Simon  Magus,  an  example  of  the  baptism  of  Water 
without  that  of  the  Spirit,  and  in  Cornelius,  of  the  communica- 
tion of  the  Spirit  before  the  application  of  the  water.  In  adults 
the  solemn  ordinance  was  preceded  by  the  preaching  of  the  gos- 
pel, or  a  brief  instruction  in  its  main  facts,  and  then  followed  by 
more  thorough  inculcation  of  the  apostolic  doctrine.  Later, 
when  great  caution  became  necessary  in  receiving  proselytes,  the 
period  of  catechetical  instruction  and  probation  was  considerably 
lengthened. 

The  usual  form  of  the  act  was  immersion,  as  is  plain  from 
the  original  meaning  of  the  Greek  ^aitTi^iiv  and  jSair-TKffX'jg  ;  from 
the  analogy  of  John's  baptism  in  the  Jordan ;  from  the  apostles' 
comparison  of  the  sacred  rite  with  the  miraculous  passage  of  the 
Eed  Sea,  with  the  escape  of  the  ark  from  the  flood,  with  a 
cleansing  and  refreshing  bath,  and  with  burial  and  resurrection  ; 
finally,  from  the  custom  of  the  ancient  church,  which  prevails  in 
the  east  to  this  day.  But  sprinkling,  also,  or  copious  pouring, 
was  practised  at  an  early  day  with  sick  and  dying  persons,  and 
probably  with  children  and  others,  where  total  or  partial  immer- 
sion was  impracticable.  Some  writers  suj)pose  that  this  was  the 
case  even  in  the  first  baptism  of  the  three  thousand  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost ;  since  Jerusalem,  especially  in  summer,  was  very 
poorly  supplied  with  water  and  private  baths.  Later  Hellenis- 
tic usage  allows  to  the  relevant  expressions  sometimes  the  wider 
sense  of  washing  and  cleansing  in  general.'  Unquestionably, 
immersion  expresses  the  idea  of  baptism  more  completely  than 
sj)ruikling;  but  it  is  a  pedantic  Jewish  literalism  to  limit  the 
operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the  quantity  or  the  quality 

'  Comp.  Lu.  si.  38.  Mk.  vii.  4,  8.  Heb.  is.  10.  Matt.  iu.  11.  2  Ki.  v.  14,  10 
(LXX.). 


124  FIRST   PERIOD.    A.D.    1-100. 

of  the  water.  Water  is  absolutely  necessary  to  baptism,  as  an 
appropriate  symbol  of  the  purifying  and  regenerating  energy  of 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  whether  the  water  be  in  large  quantity  or 
small,  cold  or  warm,  fresh  or  salt,  from  river,  cistern,  or  spring, 
is  relatively  immaterial. 

As  to  the  subjects  of  baptism :  The  apostolic  origin  of  infant 
baptism  is  denied  not  only  by  the  Baptists,  but  also  by  many 
paedobaptist  divines.  The  Baptists  assert,  that  infant  baptism  is 
contrary  to  the  idea  of  the  sacrament  itself,  and,  accordingly,  an 
unscriptural  corruption.  For  baptism,  say  they,  necessarily  pre- 
supposes the  preaching  of  the  gospel  on  the  part  of  the  church, 
and  repentance  and  faith  on  the  part  of  the  candidate  for  the 
ordinance ;  and  as  infants  can  neither  understand  preaching,  nor 
repent  and  believe,  they  are  not  proper  subjects  of  baptism.  It 
is  true,  the  apostolic  church  was  a  missionary  church,  and  had 
first  to  establish  a  mother  community,  in  the  bosom  of  which 
alone  the  grace  of  baptism  can  be  improved  by  a  Christian  edu- 
cation. So  even  under  the  old  covenant  circumcision  was  first 
performed  on  the  adult  Abraham ;  and  so  all  Christian  missionaries 
in  heathen  lands  now  beg-in  with  preaching,  and  baptizing  adults. 
True,  the  New  Testament  contains  no  express  command  to  bap- 
tize infants;  such  a  command  would  not  agree  with  the  free 
spirit  of  the  gospel.  But  still  less  does  the  New  Testament  for- 
bid infant  baptism ;  as  it  might  be  expected  to  do  in  view  of  the 
universal  custom  of  the  Jews,  to  admit  their  children  by  circum- 
cision on  the  eighth  day  after  their  birth  into  the  fellowship  of 
the  old  covenant. 

On  the  contrary,  we  have  positive  arguments  for  the  apostolic 
origin  and  character  of  infant  baptism,  first,  in  the  fact,  that  cir- 
cumcision as  truly  prefigured  baptism,  as  the  passover  the  holy 
supper ;  then  in  the  organic  relation  between  Christian  parents 
and  children ;  in  the  nature  of  the  new  covenant,  as  even  more 
comprehensive  than  the  old ;  in  the  universal  virtue  of  Christ,  as 
the  Redeemer  of  all  sexes,  classes,  and  ages,  and  especially  in  the 
Import  of  his  own  infjincy,  which  has  redeemed  and  sanctified 
the  infantile  age;  in  his  express  invitation  to  children,  whom 


§  38.    THE  loed's  supper.  125 

lie  assures  of  a  title  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  whom,  there- 
fore, he  certainly  would  not  leave  without  the  way  and  means 
of  entering  it ;  in  the  words  of  institution,  which  plainly  look  to 
the  Christianizing,  not  merely  of  individuals,  but  of  whole 
nations,  including,  of  course,  the  children ;  in  the  express  decla- 
ration of  Peter  at  the  first  administration  of  the  ordinance,  that 
this  promise  of  forgiveness  of  sins  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was 
to  the  Jews  and  to  their  children ;  in  the  five  instances  in  the 
New  Testament  of  the  baptism  of  whole  families,  where  the  pre- 
sence of  children  in  most  of  the  cases  is  far  more  probable  than 
the  absence  of  children  in  all ;  and  finally,  in  the  universal  prac- 
tice of  the  early  church,  against  which  the  isolated  protest  of 
Tertullian  proves  no  more,  than  his  other  eccentricities  and  Mon- 
tanistic  peculiarities. 

Of  course,  however,  infant  baptism  is  unmeaning,  and  its  prac- 
tice a  profanation,  except  under  the  guarantee  of  a  Christian  edu- 
cation. And  it  needs  to  be  completed  by  a  subseqxient  act  like 
confirmation,  in  which  the  child,  after  due  instruction  in  the 
gospel,  intelligently  and  freely  confesses  Christ,  devotes  himself 
to  his  service,  and  is  thereupon  solemnly  admitted  to  the  full 
communion  of  the  church  and  to  the  sacrament  of  the  holy  Sup- 
per. The  earliest  traces  of  confirmation  are  supposed  to  be  found 
in  the  apostolic  practice  of  laying  on  hands,  or  symbolically 
imparting  the  Holy  Ghost,  after  baptism. 

§  38.  TJie  Lord's  Siq^'per. 

Comp.  the  commentaries  on  Matt.  xxvi.  26  sqq.,  and  the  parallels ;  1  Cor.  x. 
16,  17;   xi.  23  sqq.;  Jno.  vi.  47-58.     J.    Bollinger :    Die  Lehre  von 

ler  Eucharistie  in  den  drei  ersten  Jalirhunderten.     Mainz  1826.  (Rom. 

Dath.)  Ebrard  :  Das  Dogma  vom  heU.  Abendmahl  u.  seine  Geschichte. 
Prankf.  1845.  Vol.  i.  p.  1-231.  (Reformed.)  Nevin:  The  Mystical 
Presence.  A  Vindication  of  the  Reformed  or  Calvinistic  Doctrine  of  the 
Holy  Eucharist.  Philadel.  1846.  p.  199-256.  Kahkis:  Die  Lehre  vom 
heU.  Abendmahl.  Leipz.  1851.  (Lutheran.)  Rbt.  Wilberforce  :  The 
Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Eucharist.  Lond.  1853.  (Anghcan,  or  rather 
Tractarian  and  Romanizing.)  L.  Imm.  Ruckert:  Das  Abendmahl.  Sein 
Wesenund  seine  Geschichte  in  der  alten  Kirche.  Leipz.  1856.  (Rationa- 
listic.) 


126  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

The  sacicament  of  the  holy  Supper  was  instituted  by  Christ 
under  the  most  solemn  circumstances,  -when  he  was  about  to  offer 
himself  a  sacrifice  for  the  salvation  of  the  world.  It  is  the  feast 
of  the  thankful  remembrance  and  appropriation  of  his  atoning 
death,  and  of  the  living  union  of  believers  with  him,  and  their  com- 
munion among  themselves.  As  the  passover  kept  in  lively  re- 
membrance the  miraculous  deliverance  from  the  land  of  bondage, 
and  at  the  same  time  pointed  forward  to  the  Lamb  of  God ;  so 
the  eucharist  represents,  seals,  and  applies  the  now  accomplished 
redemption  from  sin  and  death  until  the  end  of  time.  Here  the 
deepest  mystery  of  Christianity  is  embodied  ever  anew,  and  the 
tragedy  of  the  cross  reproduced  before  us.  Here  Christ,  who  sits 
at  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  is  yet  truly  present  in  his  church  to 
the  end  of  the  world,  gives  his  own  body  and  blood,  the  life  of 
his  divine-human  person  and  the  virtue  of  his  atoning  death,  as 
spiritual  food,  the  true  bread  of  hfe,  to  all,  who,  with  due  self- 
examination,  come  hungering  and  thirsting  to  the  heavenly  feast 
The  communion  has  therefore  been  always  regarded  as  the  summit 
and  inmost  sanctuary  of  the  Christian  worship,  and  as  a  foretaste 
of  the  marriage-supper  of  the  Lamb  in  heaven. 

In  the  apostolic  period  the  eucharist  was  celebrated  daily  in 
connexion  with  a  simple  meal  of  brotherly  love  (agape),  in  which 
the  Christians,  in  communion  with  their  common  Redeemer,  for- 
got all  distinctions  of  rank,  wealth,  and  culture,  and  felt  them- 
selves to  be  members  of  one  family  of  God.  But  this  childlike 
exhibition  of  brotherly  unity  became  more  and  more  difficult  as 
the  church  increased,  and  led  to  all  sorts  of  abuses,  such  as  we 
find  rebuked  in  the  Corinthians  by  Paul.  The  lovc-fcasts,  there- 
fore, which  indeed  were  no  more  enjoined  by  law,  than  the  com- 
munity of  goods  at  Jerusalem,  were  gradually  severed  from  the 
eucharist,  and  in  the  course  of  the  second  and  third  centuries  gra- 
dually disappeared. 

The  apostle  requires  the  Christians^  to  prepare  themselves  for 
the  Lord's  Supper  by  self-examination,  or  earnest  inquiry  whe- 
ther they  have  repentance  and  faith,  without  which  they  cannot 

*  1  Cor.  si.  28. 


§   39.      SACRED   PLACES   A2s'D  TIMES.  127 

receive  the  blessing  from  the  sacrament,  but  rather  provoke 
judgment  from  God.  This  caution  gave  rise  to  the  appropriate 
custom  of  holding  special  preparatory  exercises  for  the  holy  com- 
munion. 

§  39.  Sacred  Places  and  Times. 

Although,  as  the  omnijDresent  Spirit,  God  may  be  worshipped 
in  all  places  of  the  universe,  which  is  his  temple,^  yet  our  finite 
sensuous  nature,  and  the  need  of  united  devotion,  require  special 
sanctuaries,  exclusively  consecrated  to  his  worship.  The  first 
Christians,  after  the  example  of  the  Lord,  frequented  the  temple 
at  Jerusalem  and  the  synagogues,  so  long  as  their  relation  to  the 
Mosaic  economy  allowed.  But  besides  this,  they  assembled  also 
from  the  first  in  private  houses,  especially  for  the  communion 
and  the  love-feast. 

The  prominent  members  and  first  converts,  as  Lydia  in  Philippi, 
Jason  in  Thessalonica,  Justus  in  Corinth,  Priscilla  at  Ephesus, 
Philemon  in  Colosse,  gladly  opened  their  dwellings  for  social 
worship.  In  larger  cities,  as  in  Eome,  the  Christian  community 
divided  itself  into  several  such  assembhes  at  j^rivate  houses,^ 
which,  however,  are  alwaj'S  addressed  in  the  epistles  as  a 
unit. 

That  the  Christians  in  the  apostolic  age  erected  special  houses 
of  worship  is  out  of  the  question,  even  on  account  of  their  perse- 
cution by  Jews  and  GentUes,  to  say  nothing  of  their  general 
poverty ;  and  the  transition  of  a  whole  synagogue  to  the  new 
faith  was  no  doubt  very  rare.  As  the  Saviour  of  the  world  was 
bom  in  a  stable,  and  ascended  to  heaven  from  a  mountain,  so  his 
apostles  and  their  successors  down  to  the  fomih  century,  preached 
in  the  streets,  the  markets,  on  mountains,  in  ships,  sepulchres, 
caves,  and  deserts,  and  in  the  humblest  private  dwellings.  But 
how  many  thousands  of  costly  churches  and  chapels  have  since 
been  built  in  all  parts  of  the  world  to  the  honor  of  the  crucified 
Redeemer ! 

*   Comp.  Jno.  iv.  24.  '  w/cXr/uiai  vot'  oIkov,  Rom.  srri.  5.  1  Cor.  xvi.  19. 


128  FIBST   PERIOD,    A.D.   1-100. 

The  use  of  sacred  times  arises  likewise  from  the  necessity  of 
the  earthly  life  of  inan  as  well  as  from  the  nature  of  social  wor- 
ship, and  has  nothing  inconsistent  with  the  duty  of  scrvinsj  God 
at  all  times,  and  praying  without  ceasing.  The  apostolic  church 
here  followed  in  general  the  Jewish  usage,  purged  from  all  super- 
stition and  self-righteousness,  and  filled  with  the  spirit  of  fliith 
and  evangelical  freedom.  Accordingly,  the  Christians  observed, 
first  of  all,  besides  table-prayer  and  private  devotion,  the  Jewish 
hours  of  prayer,  j^articularly  the  times  of  the  morning  and  even- 
ing sacrifices. 

As  regards  the  observance  of  a  particular  day  of  the  week, 
the  special  divine  injunction  of  a  weekly  Sabbath,  whidi  stands 
in  the  Decalogue,  and  is  rooted  even  in  the  creation,  is,  in 
its  essence,  more  than  a  merely  nutiuual,  temporary,  and  cere- 
monial law.  The  apostolic  congregations  assembled,  indeed,  so 
far  as  practicable,  every  day  for  social  edification,  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  the  daily  sacrifices  in  the  temple;'  but  from  the  begin- 
ning they  held  the  first  day  of  the  week  particularly  sacred  as 
the  "Lord's  day,"  for  the  thankful  celebration  of  his  resurrec- 
tion, and  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost.*  Sunday  was 
the  day  of  the  comjjletion  of  the  new  creation,  and  became  the 
Christian  day  of  rest,  at  once  answering  the  typical  import  of 
the  Jewish  Sabbath,  and  itself  forming  in  turn  a  type  of  the 
eternal  rest  of  the  jjcople  of  God  in  the  heavenly  Canaan.'  In 
the  gospel  the  Sabbath  is  not  a  legal,  ceremonial  observance,  but 
rather  a  precious  gift  of  grace,  a  privilege,  a  holy  rest  in  the 
midst  of  the  unrest  of  the  world,  a  day  of  spiritual  refreshing  in 
communion  with  God  and  in  the  fellowship  of  the  saints,  a  fore- 
taste and  pledge  of  the  final  Sabbath  of  heaven.  The  due  obser- 
vance of  it,  in  which  the  reformed  churches  of  England,  Scotland, 
and  America,  to  their  incalculable  advantage,  excel  the  churches 
of  the  European  continent,  is  a  real  means  of  discipline  anxl  of 
grace  for  the  people,  a  safeguard  of  ^niblic  morality  and  religion, 

'  Acts  ii.  4G ;  xix.  9. 

'  Comp.  Jiio.  XX.  19,  26.     Acts  xx.  7.     1  Cor.  xvi.  2.     Rev.  i.  10. 

»  Corap.  llcb.  iv.  1-11.   .Rev.  iv.  13. 


§    39.    SACRED   PLACES   AND   TIMES.  129 

a  bulwark  against  infidelity,  and  a  source  of  immeasurable  bless- 
ing to  the  church,  the  state,  and  the  flimily.  Besides  the  Chris- 
tian Sunday,  the  Jewish  Christians  observed  their  ancient  Sab- 
bath also,  till  Jerusalem  was  destroyed. 

As  Sunday  was  devoted  to  the  commemoration  of  the  Saviour's 
resurrection,  and  observed  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  and  joy,  so, 
at  least  as  early  as  the  second  century,  if  not  sooner,  Friday 
came  to  be  observed  as  a  day  of  rejoentance,  with  jorayer  and 
fasting,  in  commemoration  of  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ. 

As  to  annual  festivals :  it  is  most  probable,  from  some  hints 
in  the  New  Testament,'  in  connexion  with  the  universal  practice 
of  the  church  in  the  second  century,^  that  the  annual  celebration 
of  the  death  and  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  of  the  outpour- 
ing of  the  Holy  Ghost,  answering  to  the  Passover  and  Pentecost 
of  the  Jews,  was  introduced  in  the  apostolic  age.  In  truth, 
Christ  crucified,  risen,  and  living  in  the  church,  was  the  one 
absorbing  thought  of  the  Christians  ;  and  as  this  thought 
expressed  itself  in  the  weekly  observance  of  Sunday,  so  it 
would  very  naturally  transform  also  the  two  great  typical 
feasts  of  the  Old  Testament  into  the  Christian  Easter  and 
"Whitsunday.  The  Paschal  controversies  of  the  second  cen- 
tury related  not  to  the  fact,  but  to  the  time,  of  the  Easter 
festival,  and,  according  to  Polycarp  of  Smyrna  and  Anicet  of 
Rome,  are  to  be  traced  to  an  unim23ortant  difference  in  the- 
practice  of  the  apostles. 

Of  other  annual  festivals,  such  especially  as  those  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  and  the  saints,  the  New  Testament  contains  not  the  faintest 
trace. 

'  1  Cor.  V.  7,  8  ;  xvL  8.    Acta  xviii.  21;  xx.  6,  16.  ^  Comp.  below,  §  9&; 


130  FIRST   PERIOD.    A.D.    1-100. 


CHAPTER  Y. 


ORGANIZATION   OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

R.  Rothe:  Die  Anfiinge  der  christlichen  Kirclie  u.  ihrer  Verfassung,  I.  Wit- 
tenb.  1837.  p.  141  sqq.  Mohler  (R.  C.)  :  Die  Einheit  der  Kirclie.  Tiib. 
1825.  LoiiE  (Luth.) :  Die  N.  Tlichen  Aemter  u.  ihr  Yerhaltniss  zur 
Gemeinde.  Niirnb.  1848.  Essays  on  the  Primitive  Church  Offices, 
reprinted  from  the  Princeton  Review  (Prosbyt).  N.  York,  1851.  Bishop 
Kaye  (Episc.) :  Account  of  the  External  Discipline  and  Government  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  the  First  Three  Centuries.  Lond.  1855.  Neander, 
Thiersch,  Lange,  SchafF,  in  their  works  on  the  Apostolic  Church. 

§  40.  The  Mirmiry^  and  its  Relation  to  the  Community. 

The  ministerial  office  was  instituted  by  the  Lord  before  hi? 
ascension,  and  solemnly  inaugurated  on  the  first  Christian  Pen- 
tecost by  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  be  the  regular 
organ  of  the  kingly  power  of  Christ  on  earth  in  founding,  main- 
taining, and  extending  the  church.  It  appears  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament under  different  names,  descriptive  of  its  various  functions  : 
— the  "  ministry  of  the  word,"  "  of  the  Spirit,"  "  of  righteousness," 
"  of  reconciliation."  It  includes  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  the 
administration  of  the  sacraments,  and  church  discipline  or  the 
power  of  the  keys,  the  power  to  open  and  shut  the  gates  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  in  other  words,  to  declare  to  the  penitent  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,  and  to  the  unworthy  excommunication  in  the 
name  and  by  the  authority  of  Christ.  The  ministers  of  the  gos- 
pel are,  in  an  eminent  sense,  servants  of  God,  and,  as  such,  ser- 
vants of  the  churches  in  tlie  noble  spirit  of  self-denying  love 
according  to  the  example  of  Christ,  for  the  eternal  salvation  of 
tlie  souls  intrusted  to  their  charge.  They  are  called  the  light  of 
the  world,  the  salt  of  the  earth,  fellow- workers  with  God,  stewards 


§  40.      THE   MINISTRY  AKD   THE   COMMUNITY.  131 

of  tlie  mysteries  of  God,  ambassadors  for  Christ.  And  tliis  un- 
speakable dignity  brings  with  it  corresponding  responsibility. 
Even  a  Paul,  contemplating  the  glory  of  an  office,  which  is  a  savor 
of  life  unto  life  to  believers,  and  of  death  unto  death  to  the  impeni- 
tent, exclaims ;  "  "Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?  "^  and  ascribes 
all  his  sufficiency  and  success  to  the  unmerited  grace  of  God. 

The  internal  call  to  the  sacred  office  and  the  moral  qualifica- 
tion for  it  must  come  from  the  Holy  Ghost,''  but  be  recognised 
and  ratified  by  the  church  through  her  proper  organs.  The 
apostles  were  called,  indeed,  immediately  by  Christ  to  the  work 
of  founding  the  church ;  but  so  soon  as  a  community  of  believers 
arose,  the  congregation  took  an  active  part  also  in  all  religious 
affairs.  The  persons  thus  inwardly  and  outwardly  designated 
by  the  voice  of  Christ  and  his  church,  were  solemnly  set  apart 
and  inducted  into  their  ministerial  fanctions  by  the  symbolical 
act  of  ordination ;  that  is,  by  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  the 
hands  of  the  apostles  or  their  representatives,  conferring  the 
appropriate  spiritual  gifts.^ 

Yet,  high  as  the  sacred  office  is  in  its  divine  origin  and  import, 
it  was  separated  by  no  impassable  chasm  from  the  body  of  be- 
lievers. The  Jewish  and  later  catholic  antithesis  of  clergy  and 
laity  has  no  place  in  the  apostolic  age.  The  ministers,  on  the 
one  part,  are  as  sinful  and  dependent  on  redeeming  grace  as  the 
members  of  the  congregations ;  and  those  members,  on  the  other, 
share  equally  with  the  ministers  in  the  blessings  of  the  gospel, 
enjoy  equal  freedom  of  access  to  the  throne  of  grace,  and  are 
called  to  the  same  direct  communion  with  Christ,  the  head  of  the 
whole  body.  The  very  mission  of  the  church  is,  to  reconcile  all 
men  with  God,  and  make  them  all  true  Christians,  followers  of 
Christ,  prophets,  priests,  and  kings.  And  though  this  glorious 
end  can  be  attained  only  through  a  long  process  of  history,  yet 
regeneration  itself  contains  the  germ  and  the  pledge  of  the  final 
perfection.  The  New  Testament,  looking  at  the  principle  of  the 
new  life  and  the  high  calling  of  the  Christian,  styles  all  believers 

'  2  Cor.  ii.  16.  «  Acts  xx.  28. 

'  Acts  vi.  6.     1  Tim.  iv.  U.  v.  22.     2  Tim.  i.  6. 


182  FIRST   PEEIOD.   A.D.    1-100. 

"brctliren,"  "saints,"  a  "sj)iritual  temple,"  a  " peculiar  people," 
a  "  holy  and  roval  priesthood,"  It  is  remarkable,  that  Peter  in 
particular  should  present  the  idea  of  the  ])riesthood  as  the  destiny 
of  all,^  and  apply  the  term  clerus  not  to  the  ministerial  order  as 
distinct  from  the  laity,  but  to  the  community  f  thus  regarding 
every  Christian  congregation  as  a  spiritual  tribe  of  Levi,  a  pecu- 
liar ])cople,  holy  to  the  Lord. 

§  41.  Apostles^  Prophets^  Evangelists. 

The  ministry  orig-inally  coincided  with  the  apostolate ;  as  the 
church  also  was  at  first  identical  with  the  congregation  of  Jeru- 
salem. But  when  the  believers  began  to  number  thousands,  the 
apostles  could  not  possibly  perform  all  the  functions  of  teaching, 
conducting  worship,  and  adifiinistering  discipline ;  they  were 
obliged  to  create  new  offices  for  the  ordinary  wants  of  the  con- 
gregations, while  they  devoted  themselves  to  the  general  super- 
vision. Thus  arose  gradually,  out  of  the  proper  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, though  partly  at  the  suggestion  of  the  existing  organization 
of  the  Jewish  synagogue,  the  various  general  and  congregational 
offices  in  the  church.  As  these  all  have  their  common  root  in 
the  apostolate,  so  they  partake  also,  in  different  degrees,  of  its 
divine  origin,  authority,  privileges,  and  responsibilities. 

We  notice  first  those  offices,  whose  field  was  not  limited  to 
any  one  congregation,  but  extended  over  the  whole  church,  or  at 
least  over  a  greater  part  of  it.  These  are  apostles,  prophets,  and 
evangelists. 

1.  Apostles.  These  were  originally  twelve  in  number,  answer- 
ing to  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  In  place  of  the  traitor,  Judas, 
Matthias  was  chosen  by  lot,  between  the  ascension  and  Pente- 
cost. After  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost  Paul  was  added 
by  tho  direct  call  of  the  exalted  Saviour.  He  was  the  indepen- 
dent apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  and  afterwards  gathered  several 
subordinate, helpers  around  him.  Besides  these  there  were  apos- 
tolic men,  like  Barnabas,  whose  standing  and  influence  were  almost 

•  1  Pet.  ii.  5,  9.  '  Ch.  v.  3. 


§   42.      PRESBYTERS,    DEACONS,    ANGELS.  133 

equal  to  t"hat  of  the  proper  apostles.  The  apostles  (excepting 
Matthias,  whose  election  has  been,  on  this  account,  thought  by 
some  to  have  been  hasty  and  invalid)  were  called  directly  by 
Christ,  without  human  intervention,  to  be  his  representatives  on 
earth,  the  infallible  organs  of  the  Holy  Grhost,  the  founders  and 
pillars  of  the  whole  church.  Their  office  was  universal,  and 
their  inspired  writings  are  to  this  day  the  unerring  rule  of  faith 
and  practice  for  all  Christendom.  But  they  never  exercised 
their  divine  authority  in  arbitrary  and  despotic  style.  They 
always  paid  tender  regard  to  the  rights,  freedom,  and  dignity  of 
the  immortal  souls  under  their  care.  In  every  believer,  even  in 
a  poor  slave  like  Onesimus,  they  recognised  a  member  of  the 
same  body  with  themselves,  a  partaker  of  their  redemption,  a 
beloved  brother  in  Christ.  Their  government  of  the  church  was 
a  labor  of  meekness  and  love,  of  self-denial  and  unreserved  devo- 
tion to  the  eternal  welfare  of  the  people. 

2.  Prophets.  These  were  inspired  teachers  and  enthusiastic 
preachers  of  the  mysteries  of  Grod.  They  appear  to  have  had 
special  influence  on  the  choice  of  ofl6.cers,  designating  the  per- 
sons, who  were  pointed  out  to  them  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in 
their  prayer  and  fasting,  as  peculiarly  fitted  for  missionary  labor 
or  any  other  service  in  the  church.  Of  the  prophets  the  book 
of  Acts  names  Agabus,^  Barnabas,  Symeon,  Lucius,  Manaen, 
and  Saul  of  Tarsus,^  Judas  and  Silas.^  The  gift  of  prophecy 
dwelt  in  all  the  apostles,  pre-eminently  in  John,  the  seer  of  the 
new  covenant  and  author  of  the  Revelation. 

3.  Evangelists,  itinerant  preachers,  delegates  and  fellow- 
laborers  of  the  apostles; — such  men  as  Mark,  Luke,  Timothy, 
Titus,  Silas,  Epaphras,  Trophimus,  and  ApoUos. 


§  42.  Presbyters^  Deacons,  and  Deaconesses.     The  Angels  of  the 
Churches  of  Asia  Minor. 

Besides  these  officers  of  the  whole  church,  there  were  officers 

'  Ch.  xi.  28  :  xxi.  19.  «  ch.  xiii.  1.  '  Ch.  xv.  32. 


13-i  FIRST  PERIOD.   A.D.    1-100. 

of  local  congregations,  cliargcd  witli  carrying  forward  in  particu- 
lar places  the  work  begun  by  tlie  apostles. 

1.  Bishops^  or  Presbyters.^  These  two  terms  denote  in  the 
New  Testament  the  same  office ;  the  first  signifying  its  duties,  the' 
second  its  dignity.^  The  presbyters  were  the  regular  overseers, 
teachers,  and  pastors  of  the  several  congregations,  intrusted  with 
the  direction  of  public  worship,  the  administration  of  discipline, 
the  care  of  souls,  and  the  management  of  the  church  property. 
"We  find  them  always  in  the  plural,  a.s  a  college;  at  Jerusalem,^ 
at  Ephesus,^  at  Philippi,"  and  at  the  ordination  of  Timoth}^' 

As  to  the  mutual  relations  of  the  members  of  the  presbytery, 
tlie  division  of  labor  among  them,  the  nature  and  term  of  the 
presidency,  the  New  Testament  gives  us  no  information. 

The  distinction  of  teaching  presbyters  or  ministers  proper,  and 
ruling  presbyters  or  lay  elders,  rests  on  a  single  passage,^  which 
unquestionably  admits  a  different  interpretation ;  especially  since 
Paul  in  the  same  epistle^  expressly  mentions  abilit}^  to  teach 
among  the  requisites  for  the  episcopal  or  presbyterial  office.  The 
members  of  the  presbyterial  college,  however,  very  probably 
distributed  the  various  duties  of  their  office  among  tliemselves 
according  to  their  res2:>ective  talents,  tastes,  and  outward  circum- 
stances. Possibly,  too,  the  president,  whether  temporary  or  per- 
manent, was  styled  distinctively  the  bishop ;  and  from  this  the 
subsequent  separation  of  the  episcopate  from  the  presbytery  may 
easily  have  arisen.  However  this  may  have  been,  the  bishops 
in  the  first  century  were  limited  in  their  jurisdiction  either  to  one 
congregation  or  to  a  small  circle  of  congregations,  while  the  gene- 
ral government  of  the  church  was  in  the  hands  of  the  apostles. 

2.  Deacons,  or  helpers,  appear  first  in  the  church  of  Jerusa- 
lem, seven  in  number,  apjDointcd  in  consequence  of  a  complaint 
of  the  Hellenistic  Christians,  that  their  widows  were  neglected 
m  favor  of  the  Hebrew  Christians.^''    The  example  of  that  church 

'  ImaKOTToi.  "  From  QiapT  elders. 

'  Comp.  Acts  XX.  17,  28.     Tit.  i.  5,  7.     1  Tim.  iii.  1-7.     Pliil.  i.  1. 

*  Acts  xi.  30  ;  xv.  4,  G,  23  ;   xxi.  18.  °  Ch.  xx.  17,  28.         *  Pliil.  i.  1. 

"  1  Tim.  iv.  14.  "  1  Tim.  v.  17.  »  Cli.  iii.  2  '»  Act.s  vi. 


§   42.      PRESBYTERS,    DEACONS,    ANGELS.  135 

was  followed  in  all  the  other  congregations,  though  without  par- 
ticular regard  to  the  number  seven.  The  office  of  these  deacons, 
according  to  the  narrative  in  Acts,  was,  to  attend  to  the  wants 
of  the  poor  and  the  sick.  To  this  work  a  kind  of  pastoral  care 
of  souls  very  naturally  attached  itself;  since  poverty  and  sick- 
ness afford  the  best  occasions  and  the  most  urgent  demand  for 
edifying  instruction  and  consolation.  Hence  living  faith  and  exem- 
plary conduct  were  necessary  qualifications  for  the  office  of  deacon.* 

8.  Deaconesses,  or  female  helpers,  had  a  similar  charge  of 
the  poor  and  sick  in  the  female  portion  of  the  church.  This 
office  was  the  more  needful  on  account  of  the  rigid  separation  of 
the  sexes  at  that  day,  especially  among  the  Greeks.  It  opened 
to  pious  women  and  virgins,  and  especially  to  widows,  a  most 
suitable  field  for  the  regular  official  exercise  of  their  peculiar 
gifts  of  self-denying  love  and  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the 
church.  Through  it  they  could  carry  the  light  and  comfort  of 
the  gospel  into  the  most  private  and  delicate  relations  of  domestic 
life,  without  at  all  overstepping  their  natural  sphere.  Paul  men- 
tions Phebe  as  a  deaconess  of  the  church  of  Cenchrea,  the  port  of 
Corinth ;  and  it  is  more  than  probable,  that  Tryphena,  Try- 
phosa,  and  Persis,  whom  he  commends  for  their  labor  in  the 
Lord,''  served  in  the  same  capacity  at  Eome. 

4.  Finally,  towards  the  close  of  the  a]30stolic  age  one  more 
class  of  congregational  officers  appears, — the  Angels,  to  whom 
the  episttes  of  the  Apocalypse  are  addressed.  These  probably 
represent  the  whole  corps  of  officers  in  the  respective  churches  of 
Asia  Minor,  as  the  responsible  messengers  of  God  to  them.  If 
regarded  as  single  persons,  they  cannot  be  mere  members  of  a 
presbytery,  but  must  be  somewhat  like  the  bishops  of  the  second 
century,  though  still  materially  different  from  them  in  the  extent 
of  their  charges,  and  in  their  subordination  to  the  still  living 
apostle  John ;  so  as  not  to  be  successors  of  the  apostles  in  the 
later  sense  of  that  word.  We  might  call  them  congregational 
bishops  as  distinct  from  the  apostles  and  from  diocesan  bishops  of 
later  times. 

'  Acts  vL  3.     1  Tim.  iii.  8  sqq.  '  Rom.  xvii.  12. 


136  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.I).    1-100. 

§  43.  The  Council  at  Jerusalem. 

The  most  complete  outward  representation  of  tlic  apostolic 
church  as  a  teaching  and  legislative  body  was  the  council  con- 
vened at  Jerusalem  in  the  year  50,  to  decide  as  to  the  authority 
of  the  law  of  Moses,  and  adjust  the  difference  between  Jewish  and 
Gentile  Christianity.'  It  consisted  of  the  apostles,  elders,  and 
brethren  .2  This  fact  deserves  special  notice  in  view  of  the 
exclusively  hierarchical  government  wliich  afterwards  obtained 
in  the  Eoman  and  Greek  churches.  The  transactions  were  public, 
before  the  congregation;  the  apostles  and  elders  framed  the 
decree  not  without,  but  "  with  the  whole  church  ;"  and  sent  the 
circular  letter  not  in  their  own  name  only,  bvit  also  in  the  name 
of  the  brethren ;  a  plain  proof  of  the  right  of  Christian  people  to 
take  part  in  some  way  in  the  government  of  the  church,  as  they 
do  in  her  worship. 

The  spirit  and  practice  of  the  apostles  thus  favored  a  certain 
kind  of  popular  self-government,  and  the  harmonious,  fraternal 
co-operation  of  the  different  elements  of  the  church.  It  counte- 
nanced no  abstract  distinction  of  clergy  and  laity.  All  believers 
are  called  to  the  prophetic,  priestly,  and  kingly  offices  in  Christ. 
The  bearers  of  authority  and  discipline  should  therefore  never 
forget,  that  their  great  work  is  to  train  the  governed  to  freedom 
and  independence,  and  by  the  various  spiritual  offices  to  form 
gradually  the  whole  body  of  believers  to  the  unity  of  fliith  and 
knowledge,  and  to  the  perfect  manhood  of  Christ.^ 

The  council  of  Jerusalem,  though  not  a  binding  precedent,  is  a 
significant  example,  giving  the  apostolic  sanction  to  the  synodical 
form  of  church  government,  in  whicli  all  classes  of  the  Christian 
community  are  represented  in  the  management  of  public  affairs 
and  in  settling  controversies  respecting  faith  and  practice. 

§  4-1.   Church  Discipline. 

Although  holiness,  like  unity  and  catholicity,  is  an  essential 
mark  of  tlie  church  as  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  yet  it  has  never 

>  Acts  XV.,  and  Giilaliaiis  ii.  "  Acts  xv.  12,  22,  23.  »  Kph.  iv.  11-13. 


§  44.      CHURCH    DISCIPLINE.  137 

thus  far  been  fully  realized  in  lier  eartlily  membersliip.  The 
church  on  earth  is  passing  through  a  long  process  of  sanctifica- 
tion,  which  cannot  be  complete,  till  the  second  coming  of  the 
Lord  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body. 

Even  the  apostles,  far  as  they  tower  above  ordinary  Christians, 
and  infallible  as  they  are  in  giving  all  the  instruction  necessary 
to  salvation,  never  during  their  earthly  life  claimed  sinless  per- 
fection of  character,  but  felt  themselves  oppressed  with  manifold 
infirmities,  and  in  constant  need  of  forgiveness  and  purification.^ 

Still  less  can  we  expect  perfect  moral  purity  in  their  churches. 
In  fiict,  all  the  epistles  of  the  New  Testament  contain  exhorta- 
tions to  2)rogress  in  virtue  and  piety,  warnings  against  unfaith- 
fulness and  apostasy,  and  reproofs  respecting  corrupt  practices 
among  the  believers.  The  old  leaven  of  Judaism  and  hea- 
thenism could  not  be  purged  away  at  once,  and  to  many  of  the 
blackest  sins  the  converts  were  for  the  first  time  fully  exposed 
after  their  regeneration  by  water  and  the  Spirit.  In  the  churches 
of  Galatia  many  fell  back  fro:n  grace  and  from  the  freedom  of 
the  gospel  to  the  legal  bondage  of  Judaism  and  the  "  rudiments 
of  the  world."  In  the  church  of  Corinth  Paul  had  to  rebuke  the 
carnal  spirit  of  sect,  the  morbid  desire  for  wisdom,  participation 
in  the  idolatrous  feasts  of  the  heathen,  the  tendency  to  unclean- 
ness,  and  a  scandalous  profanation  of  the  holy  supper  or  the 
love-feasts  connected  with  it.  Almost  all  the  churches  of  Asia 
Minor,  according  to  the  epistles  of  Paul  and  the  Apocalypse, 
were  so  infected  with  theoretical  or  practical  error,  as  to  call  for 
the  earnest  warnings  and  reproofs  of  the  Holy  Spirit  through  the 
apostles. 

These  facts  show  how  needful  church  discipline  is,  both  for 
the  church  herself  and  for  the  offenders.  For  the  church  it  is  a 
process  of  self-purification  and  the  assertion  of  the  holiness  and 
moral  dignity  which  essentially  belong  to  her.  To  the  offender 
it  is  at  once  a  merited  punishment  and  a  means  of  repentance 
and  reform.     For  the  ultimate  end  of  all  the  agency  of  Christ  and 

•  PhU.  iii.  12-14.  2  Cor.  iv.  7  sqq.,  xii.  7.  •  1  Cor.  ix.  27.  Jas.  iil  2.  1  Jno.  i.  8,  9. 
Gal.  ii.  11.     Acts  xv.  36-39,  xxiii.  3  sqq. 


138  FIEST   PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

his  cliurcli  is  the  salvation  of  souls ;  and  Paul  styles  the  severest 
form  of  church  discipline  the  delivering  of  the  backslider  "  to 
Satan  fur  the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit  may  be 
saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus."^ 

The  means  of  discipline  are  of  various  degrees  of  severity ; 
first,  private  admonition,  then  public  correction,  and,  finally, 
when  these  prove  fruitless,  excommunication,  or  temporary  exclu- 
sion from  all  the  means  of  grace  and  from  Christian  intercourse.^ 
Upon  sincere  repentance,  the  fallen  one  is  restored  to  the  com- 
munion of  the  church.  The  act  of  discipline  is  that  of  the  whole 
congregation  in  the  name  of  Christ ;  and  Paul  himself,  though 
personally  absent,  excommunicated  the  fornicator  at  Corinth 
with  the  concurrence  of  the  congregation,  and  as  being  in  spirit 
united  with  it. 

The  two  severest  cases  of  discipline  in  the  apostolic  church  were 
the  fearful  punishment  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  by  Peter  for 
fiilsehood  and  hypocrisy  in  the  churcli  of  Jerusalem  in  the  days 
of  her  first  love,^  and  the  excommunication  of  a  member  of  the 
Corinthian  congregation  by  Paul  for  adultery  and  fornication.^ 
The  latter  case  affords  also  an  instance  of  restoration .° 

§  45.   The  Churchy  the  Body  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Thus  the  apostolic  church  appears  as  a  free,  independent,  and 
complete  organism,  asystem  of  supernatural,  divine  life  in  a  human 
body.  It  contains  in  itself  all  the  ofiices  and  energies  required  for 
its  purposes.  It  produces  the  supply  of  its  outward  wants  from 
its  own  free  spirit.  Instead  of  receiving  protection  and  support 
from  the  secular  power,  it  suffers  deadly  hatred  and  jjcrsecution. 
It  manages  its  own  internal  affairs  •v\dth  equal  independence.  Of 
union  with  the  state,  either  in  the  way  of  hierarchical  supremacy 
or  of  Erastian  subordination,  the  first  three  centuries  afford  no 
trace.  The  apostles  honor  the  civil  autliority  as  a  divine  insti- 
tution, and,  in  tlie  time  of  a  Claudius  and  a  Nero,  enjoin  strict 

'  1  Cor.  V.  5.  «  Comp.  Matt,  xviii.  15-18.     Tit.  iii.  10.     1  Cor.  v.  5. 

'  Acts  V.  1-10,  "  1  Cor.  V.  1  sqq.  '  2  Cor.  ii.  5-10. 


§  45.      THE   CHURCH  THE   BODY  OF   CHRIST.  139 

obedience  to  it  in  all  civil  concerns;  as,  indeed,  their  heavenly 
Master  himself  submitted  in  temporal  matters  to  Herod  and  to 
Pilate,  and  rendered  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  were  Caesar's. 
But  in  their  spiritual  calling  they  allowed  nothing  to  be  pre- 
scribed or  forbidden  to  them  by  the  state.  Their  principle  was, 
to  "  obey  God  rather  than  men."  For  this  principle,  for  their 
allegiance  to  the  King  of  kings,  they  were  always  ready  to  suffer 
imprisonment,  insult,  persecution,  and  death,  but  never  to  resort 
to  carnal  weapons,  or  stir  up  rebellion  and  revolution.  "  The 
weapons  of  our  warfare,"  says  Paul,  "  are  not  carnal,  but  mighty 
through  God."  Martyrdom  is  a  far  nobler  heroism  than  resist- 
ance with  fire  and  sword,  and  leads  with  greater  certainty  at 
last  to  a  thorough  and  permanent  victory. 

The  apostolic  church,  as  to  its  membership,  was  not  free  from 
impurities,  the  after-workings  of  Judaism  and  heathenism  and 
the  natural  man.  But  in  virtue  of  an  inherent  authority  it 
exercised  rigid  discipline,  and  thus  steadily  asserted  its  dignity 
and  holiness.  It  was  not  perfect ;  but  it  earnestly  strove  after 
the  jDerfection  of  manhood  in  Christ,  and  longed  and  hoped  for 
the  reappearance  of  the  Lord  in  glory  to  the  exaltation  of  his 
people.  It  was  as  yet  not  actually  universal,  but  a  little  flock 
compared  with  the  hostile  hosts  of  the  heathen  and  Jewish  world; 
yet  it  carried  in  itself  the  principle  of  true  catholicity,  the  power 
and  pledge  of  its  victory  over  all  other  religions,  and  its  final 
prevalence  among  all  nations  of  the  earth  and  in  all  classes  of 
society. 

Paul  defines  the  church  as  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ.^  He  thus 
represents  it  as  an  organic  living  system  of  various  members, 
powers,  and  functions,  and  at  the  same  time  as  the  abode  of 
Christ  and  the  organ  of  his  redeeming  and  sanctifying  influence 
upon  the  world.  Christ  is,  in  one  view,  the  ruling  head,  in 
another  the  invisible,  all-pervading  soul,  of  this  body.  Christ 
without  the  church  were  a  head  without  a  body,  a  fountain  with- 
out a  stream,  a  king  without  subjects,  a  captain  without  soldiers, 

1  Rom.  xii.  5.  1  Cor.  vi.  15;  x.  17;  xii.  21.  Eph.  i.  23;  iv.  12;  v.  23,  30. 
Col.  i.  18,  24;  ii.  17. 


140  FIRST   PERIOD.   A.D.   1-100. 

a  bridegroom  without  a  bride.  The  cburcli  without  Christ  were  a 
body  without  soul  or  spirit,  a  lifeless  corpse.  The  church  lives 
only  as  Christ  lives  and  moves  and  works  in  her.  At  every 
moment  of  her  existence  she  is  dependent  on  him,  as  the  body 
on  the  soul,  or  the  branches  on  the  vine.  But  on  his  part  he  per- 
petually bestows  upon  her  his  heavenly  gifts  and  supernatural 
powers,  continually  reveals  himself  in  her,  and  uses  her  as  his 
organ  for  the  spread  of  his  kingdom  and  the  christianizing  of  the 
world,  till  all  principalities  and  powers  yield  free  obedience  to 
him,  and  adore  him  as  the  eternal  Projjhet,  Priest,  and  King  of 
the  regenerate  race. 

This  work  must  be  a  gradual  process  of  history.  The  idea  of 
a  body,  and  of  all  organic  life,  includes  that  of  development, 
of  expansion  and  consolidation.  And  hence  the  same  Paul 
speaks  also  of  the  growth  and  edification  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
"  till  we  all  come  into  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ."^ 

'  Eph.  iv.  13. 


SECOID  PERIOD. 


THE 


CHURCH  UNDER  PERSECUTION: 


FEOM  THE 


DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN  TO  CONSTANTINE  THE  GREAT. 
A.  D.  100-311. 


SECOND   PERIOD. 


FROM  THE  DEATH   OF   ST.   JOHN   TO    CONSTANTINE    THE    GREAT. 
A.D.  100—311. 


SOURCES. 

(1.)  The  writings  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers,  the  Apologists,  and  all  the  ecclesias- 
tical authors  of  the  2nd  and  3rd,  and  to  some  extent  of  the  4th  and  oth 
centuries;  particularly  Justin  Martyr,  Irenaeus,  Hippolytus,  TertuUian, 
Cyprian,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Origen,  Eusebius,  Epiphanius,  and 
Theodoret.  (2.)  The  writings  of  the  numerous  heretics,  mostly  extant 
only  in  fragments.  (3.)  The  works  of  the  pagan  opponents  of  Christianity, 
as  Celsus,  Lucian,  and  Porphyry.  (4.)  The  occasional  notices  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  contemporary  classical  authors,  Tacitus,  Suetonius,  the 
younger  Pliny,  Dio  Cassius. 

The  fragments  of  the  earliest  Christian  writers,  whose  works  are  lost,  may  be 
found  collected  in  Grace  :  Spicilegium  patrum  ut  et  haereticorum  saeculi 
i.  ii.  etiii.  Oxon.  1700  (newed.  Oxf.  1714,  3  vols.);  in  Routh:  Reliquiae 
Sacrae,  sive  auctorum  fere  jam  perditorum  secundi,  tertiique  saecuh  frag- 
menta,  quae  supersunt.  Oxon.  1814  sqq.  4  vols.  (2nd  ed.  enlarged,  5  vols. 
Oxf.  1846-48) ;  and  in  Dom  T.  B.  Pitra  (0.  S.  B.) :  Spicilegium  Soles- 
mense,  complectens  sanctorum  patrum  scriptorumque  eccles.  anecdota  hac- 
tenus  opera,  selecta  e  G-raecisOrientialibusque  et  Latinis  codicibus.  1852- 
55.  vols.  3.  Comp.  also  Bunsen  :  Christianity  and  Mankind,  &c.  Lond. 
1854,  vols.  V.  vi.  and  vii.,  which  contain  the  Analecta  Ante-Nicaena 
(rehquiae  literariae,  canonicae,  liturgicae).  The  heresiological  writings 
of  antiquity  are  collected  in  Eranc.  Oehler  :  Corpus  haeresiologicum. 
Berol.  1856  sqq. 

LITERATURE. 

Eusebius  (t  340) :  ''ExxXy;it.a'jT'txr;  laropCa  (from  the  Incarnation  to  324),  ed. 
Valesius,  Par.  1659,  and  in  many  other  editions  and  translations.  Mos- 
HEiM :  Commentarii  de  rebus  Christianis  ante  Constantinum  M.  Helmst. 
1753.     The  same  in  English  by  Vidal,  1813  sqq.  3  vols.,  and  by  Mur- 


1-i-l  SECOND   TERIOD.   A.T).    100-311. 

DOCK,  Now  Haven,  1852,  2  vols.  Cave  :  Primitive  Christianitj'.  1698. 
Cave  :  Lives  of  the  Fathers  of  the  first  four  Centuries.  1677-83.  2  vols. 
(Oxon.  1841,  in  3  vols.).  Gibbon  :  The  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  London.  1776-88.  6  vols. ;  and  frequently  (ed 
of  Milman,  -with  his  own,  Guizot's,  and  Wenck's  notes).  Tzschiuner  :  Der 
Fall  des  Heidenthums.  Leipz.  1829.  Burton:  Lectures  upon  the  Ec- 
clesiastical History  of  the  first  three  Centuries.  Oxf.  1833,  in  3  parts  (in 
1  vol.  1845).  Milman:  The  History  of  Christianity  from  the  Birth  of 
Christ  to  the  Abolition  of  Paganism  in  the  Roman  Empire.  Lond.  1840.  3 
vols.  (N.York,  1844, 1  vol.).  Kaye:  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  Second  and 
Third  Centuries  illustrated  from  the  Writings  of  Tertullian.  Lond.  1845. 
Hinds:  The  Rise  and  Early  Progress  of  Christianity.  Lond.  1849. 
Jeremie:  Hist,  of  the  Chr.  Church  in  the  2nd  and  3rd  Cent.  Lond.  1849. 
Maurice  :  Lectures  on  the  Eccles.  Hist,  of  tlie  1st  and  2nd  Cent.  Cambr. 
1854.  Ritschl:  Die  Entstehung  der  alt-katholischen  Kirche.  Bonn,  1850. 
2nd  ed.  1857.  Baur:  Das  Christeuthum  u.  die  Christliche  Kiiclie  der  drei 
ersten  Jahrhunderte.  Tubing.  1853.  Hagenbach  :  Die  christliche  Kirche 
der  drei  ersten  Jahrhunderte.  Leipz.  1853.  (2nd  ed.  1856.)  Christianity  in 
the  Three  First  Centuries.  Lectures  by  Merle  d'Aubigne,  Bungener,  etc. 
Lond.  1858.  Of  the  more  general  works  on  Church  History,  those  of  Tille- 
mont  (R.  C.)  and  Neander,  particularly  should  be  noticed  on  this  period, 

§  46.  Liiroductory  Vietu. 

"We  now  descend  from  the  primitive  apostolic  cliurcli  to  the 
Graeco-Eoman  ;  from  the  scene  of  creation  to  the  work  of  preser- 
vation ;  fr(5m  the  fountain  of  divine  revelation  to  the  stream  of 
Human  development ;  from  the  generation  of  demigods  to  that 
of  mortals  ;  from  the  inspirations  of  the  apostles  and  prophets  to 
the  productions  of  enlightened  but  fallible  teachers.  The  hand 
of  God  has  drawn  a  bold  line  of  demarcation  between  the  century 
of  miracles  and  the  succeeding  ages,  to  show,  by  the  abrupt  transi- 
tion and  the  striking  contrast,  the  difference  between  the  work  of 
God  and  the  work  of  man,  and  to  impress  us  the  more  deeply 
with  the  supernatural  origin  of  Christianity  and  the  incomparable 
value  of  the  New  Testament. 

Still,  notwithstanding  the  striking  difference,  the  church  of  the 
second  and  third  centuries  is  a  legitimate  continuation  of  that  of  the 
primitive  age.  "While  far  inferior  in  originality,  purity,  energy, 
and  freshness,  it  is  distinguished  for  conscientious  fidelity  in  pre- 
serving and  propagating  the  sacred  writings  and  traditions  of  the 
apostles,  and  for  untiring  zeal  in  imitating  their  holy  lives  amidst 
the  greatest  difficulties  and  dangers. 


§   -±6.      INTRODUCTORY   VIEW.  145 

Tlie  second  period,  from  tlie  deatli  of  the  apostle  Jolin  to  the 
end  of  the  persecutions,  or  to  the  accession  of  Constantine,  the 
first  Christian  emperor,  is  the  classic  age  of  the  ecclesia pressa^  of 
oppression  and  persecution,  and  of  Christian  martyrdom  and 
heroism,  the  cheerful  sacrifice  of  possessions  and  of  life  for  the 
inheritance  of  heaven.  It  furnishes  a  continuous  commentary  on 
the  Saviour's  word  :  "  Behold,  I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  in  the 
midst  of  wolves ;"  "I  came  not  to  send  peace  on  earth,  but  a 
sword. "^  No  merely  human  religion  could  have  stood  such  an 
ordeal  of  fire  for  three  hundred  years.  The  final  victory  of 
Christianity  over  Judaism  and  heathenism,  and  the  mightiest  em- 
pire of  the  ancient  world,  a  victory  gained  without  phj^sical  force, 
by  the  moral  power  of  patience  and  perseverance,  of  faith  and 
love,  is  one  of  the  sublimest  spectacles  of  history,  and  one  of  the' 
strongest  evidences  of  the  divinity  and  indestructible  life  of  our 
holy  religion. 

But  equally  sublime  and  significant  are  the  intellectual  and' 
S23iritual  victories  of  the  church  in  this  period  over  the  science  and' 
art  of  heathenism,  and  over  the  assaults  of  Gnostic  and  Ebionistic 
heresy,  with  the  copious  vindication  and  development  of  the 
Christian  truth,  which  the  great  mental  conflict  with  those  open 
and  secret  enemies  called  forth. 

The  church  of  this  period  appears  poor  in  earthly  possessions 
and  honors,  but  rich  in  heavenly  grace,  in  world -conquering 
faith,  love,  and  hope  ;  impojDular,  even  outlawed,  hated,  and  per- 
secuted, yet  far  more  vigorous  and  expansive  than  the  philosophies 
of  Greece  or  the  empire  of  Rome ;  composed  chiefly  of  persons 
of  the  lower  social  ranks,  yet  attracting  the  noblest  and  deepest 
minds  of  the  age,  and  bearing  in  her  bosom  the  hope  of  the  world  ;. 
conquering  by  apparent  defeat,  and  growing  on  the  blood  of 
her  martyrs ;  great  in  deeds,  greater  in  sufferings,  greatest  in  death 
for  the  honor  of  Christ  and  the  benefit  of  generations  to  come.^ 

^  Comp.  Matt.  x.  17-39. 

"  Isaac  Taylor,  in  his  "  Ancient  Christianity,"  which  is  expressly  written  against 
a  superstitious  over-valuation  of  the  patristic  a^e,  nevertheless  admits  (vol.  i.  p.  37) : 
"  Our  brethren  of  the  early  church  challenge  our  respect,  as  well  as  affection ;  for 
tlieirs  was  the  fervor  of  a  steady  faith  in  things  unseen  and  eternal;  theirs,  often,  a 

10 


14:6  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

The  condition  and  manners  of  the  Christians  in  this  age  are 
most  beautifully  described  by  the  unknown  author  of  the  Epis- 
tola  ad  Diognetum^  in  the  early  part  of  the  second  century. 
"  The  Christians,"  says  he,  "  are  not  distinguished  from  other 
men  by  country,  by  language,  nor  by  civil  institutions.  For 
they  neither  dwell  in  cities  by  themselves,  nor  use  a  peculiar 
tongue,  nor  lead  a  singular  mode  of  life.  They  dwell  in  the 
Grecian  or  barbarian  cities,  as  the  case  may  be ;  they  follow  the 
usage  of  the  country  in  dress,  food,  and  the  other  aftairs  of  life. 
Yet  they  present  a  wonderful  and  confessedly  paradoxical  con- 
duct. They  dwell  in  their  own  native  lands,  but  as  strangers. 
They  take  part  in  all  things,  as  citizens ;  and  they  suffer  all 
things,  as  foreigners.  Every  foreign  country  is  a  fatherland  to 
them,  and  every  native  land  is  a  foreign.  They  marry,  like  all 
others ;  they  have  children ;  but  they  do  not  cast  away  their 
offspring.  They  have  the  table  in  common,  but  not  wives. 
They  live  upon  the  earth,  but  are  citizens  of  heaven.  They 
obey  the  existing  laws,  and  cxcqI  theja.\vsjby  theirjives.  They 
love  all,  and  are  persecuted  by  all.  They  are  unknown,  and  yet 
they  are  condemned.  They  are  killed  and  are  made  alive. 
They  are  poor  and  make  many  rich.  They  lack  all  things,  and 
in  all  things  abound.  They  are  reproached,  and  glory  in  their 
reproaches.  They  are  calumniated,  and  are  justified.  They  are 
cursed,  and  they  bless.  They  receive  scorn,  and  they  give 
honor.  They  do  good,  and  are  punished  as  evildoers.  When 
punished,  they  rejoice,  as  being  made  alive.  By  the  Jews  they 
are  attacked  as  aliens,  and  by  the  Greeks  persecuted ;  and  the 

meek  patience  under  the  most  grievous  wrongs;  theirs  tlie  courage  to  maintain  a 
good  profession  before  the  frowning  face  of  philosophy,  of  secular  t3-ranny,  and  of 
splendid  superstition ;  theirs  was  abstractedness  from  the  world  and  a  painful  self- 
denial  ;  theirs  the  most  arduous  and  costly  labors  of  love ;  theirs  a  muuiticcnce  in 
charity,  altogether  without  example;  theirs  was  a  reverent  and  scrupulous  care  of  the 
sacred  writings ;  and  this  one  merit,  if  they  had  no  other,  is  of  a  superlative  degree, 
and  should  entitle  them  to  the  veneration  and  grateful  regards  of  the  modern  church. 
How  little  do  many  readers  of  the  Bible,  nowadays,  think  of  what  it  cost  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  second  and  tliird  centuries,  merely  to  rescue  and  hide  llio  s;icred  trea- 
sure from  tlie  rage  of  the  heathen!" 

'  C.  5  and  G  (p.  G9  sq.  ed.  Olio.  Lip's.  1S52). 


§  46.      INTRODUCTORY  VIEW.  147 

cause  of  tlie  enmity  their  enemies  cannot  tell.  In  short,  what  the 
soul  is  in  the  body,  the  Christians  are  in  the  world.  The  soul 
is  diffused  through  all  the  members  of  the  body,  and  the  Chris- 
tians are  spread  through  the  cities  of  the  world.  The  soul  dwells 
in  the  body,  but  it  is  not  of  the  body ;  so  the  Christians  dwell  in 
the  world,  but  are  not  of  the  world.  The  soul,  invisible,  keeps 
watch  in  the  visible  body ;  so  also  the  Christians  are  seen  to  live 
in  the  world,  but  their  piety  is  invisible.  The  flesh  hates  and 
wars  against  the  soul,  suffering  no  wrong  from  it,  but  because 
it  resists  fleshly  pleasures ;  and  the  world  hates  the  Christians 
with  no  reason,  but  that  they  resist  its  pleasures.  The  soul  loves 
the  flesh  and  members,  by  which  it  is  hated ;  so  the  Christians 
love  their  haters.  The  soul  is  inclosed  in  the  body,  but  holds 
the  body  together ;  so  the  Christians  are  detained  in  the  world 
as  in  a  prison ;  but  they  contain  the  world.  Immortal,  the  soul 
dwells  in  the  mortal  body;  so  the  Christians  dwell  in  the  cor- 
ruptible, but  look  for  incorruption  in  heaven.  The  soul  is  the 
better  for  restriction  in  food  and  drink;  and  the  Christians 
increase,  though  daily  punished.  This  lot  God  has  assigned  to 
the  Christians  in  the  world;  and  it  cannot  be  taken  from  them." 
The  community  of  Christians  thus  from  the  first  felt  itself,  in 
distinction  from  Judaism  and  from  heathenism,  the  salt  of  the 
earth,  the  light  of  the  world,  the  city  of  Grod  set  on  a  hill,  the 
immortal  soul  in  a  dying  body ;  and  this  its  impression  respect- 
ing itself  was  no  mere  proud  conceit,  but  truth  and  reality,  act- 
ing in  life  and  in  death,  and  opening  the  way  through  hatred 
and  persecution  even  to  an  outward  victory  over  the  world. 


148  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 


CHAPTER  I. 


SPREAD   OF   CHRISTIiVJ^ITY. 


Comp.  Le  Qcien:  Oriens  Christianus.  Par.  1740.  3  vols.  fol.  Mosheim: 
Historical  Commentaries,  &c,  (ed.  Murdock)  i.  p.  259-290.  Gibbon: 
The  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Chap.  xv.  Neander  : 
History  of  the  Christian  Relig.  and  Ch.  (ed.  Torrey)  i.  p.  G8-79. 
WiLTSCH :  Handbuch  der  kirchl.  Geographic  u.  Statistik.  BerL  1846.  i.  p. 
32  sqq. 


§  47.  Hindrances  and  Helps. 

For  the  first  three  centanes  the  Lord  placed  Christianity  in  the 
most  unfavorable  circumstances,  that  it  might  display  its  moral 
power,  and  gain  its  victory  over  the  world  by  spiritual  weapons 
alone.  Until  the  reign  of  Constantine  it  had  not  even  a  legal 
existence  in  the  Roman  empire,  but  was  first  ignored  as  a  Jewish 
sect,  then  slandered,  proscribed,  and  persecuted,  as  a  treasonable 
innovation,  and  the  adoption  of  it  made  pimishable  with  confisca- 
tion and  death.  Besides,  it  offered  not  the  slightest  favor,  as 
Mohammedanism  afterwards  did,  to  the  corrupt  inclinations  of  the 
heart,  but  'against  the  current  ideas  of  Jews  and  heathens  it  so 
presented  its  inexorable  demand  of  repentance  and  conversion, 
renunciation  of  self  and  of  the  world,  that  more,  according  to 
Tertullian,  were  kept  out  of  the  new  sect  by  love  of  pleasure, 
than  by  love  of  life.  The  Jewish  origin  of  Christianitv  also,  and 
the  poverty  and  obscurity  of  a  majority  of  its  professors,  parti- 
cularly offended  the  pride  of  the  Grreeks  and  Romans.  Celsus 
exaggerating  this  fact,  and  ignoring  the  many  exceptions,  scoff- 
ingly  remarked,  tliat  "  weavers,  cobblers,  and  fullers,  the  most 


§   47.      HINDEANCES  AND   HELPS.  149 

illiterate  persons"  preached  the  "  irrational  faith,"  and  knew  how 
to  commend  it  especially  "  to  women  and  children," 

But  in  spite  of  these  extraordinary  difficulties  Christianity 
made  a  progress,  which  furnished  striking  evidence  of  its  divi- 
nity, and  was  employed  as  such  by  Irenaeus,  Justin,  Tertullian, 
and  other  fathers  of  that  day.  Nay,  the  very  hindrances  became, 
in  the  hands  of  Providence,  helps.  Persecution  led  to  mar- 
tyrdpm,  and  martyrdom  had  not  terrors  alone,  but  also 
attractions,  and  not  rarely  S23read  as  by  contagion.  Everv 
genuine  martyr  was  a  living  proof  of  the  truth  and  holiness  of 
the  Christian  religion.  Tertullian  can  exclaim  to  the  heathen : 
"  All  your  ingenious  cruelties  can  accomplish  nothing;  they  are 
only  a  lure  to  this  sect.  Our  number  increases  the  more  you 
destroy  us.  The  blood  of  the  Christians  is  their  seed."  The 
moral  earnestness  of  the  Christians  contrasted  powerfully  with 
the  prevailing  corruption  of  the  age,  and  while  it  repelled  the 
frivolous  and  voluptuous,  it  could  not  fail  to  impress  most 
strongly  the  deepest  and  noblest  minds.  The  predilection  of  the 
poor  and  oppressed  for  the  gospel  attested  its  comforting  and 
redeeming  power.  But  others  also,  from  the  higher  and  educated 
classes,  were  from  the  first  attracted  to  the  new  religion ;  such 
men  as  Nicodemus,  the  apostle  Paul,  the  proconsul  Sergius 
Paulus,  Dionj'sius  of  Athens,  Erastus  of  Corinth,  and  some  mem- 
bers of  the  imperial  household-  Among  the  sufferers  in  Domi- 
tian's  ^persecution  were  his  own  near  kinswoman  Flavia  Domi- 
tilla  and  her  husband  Flavins  Clemens.  The  senatorial  and 
equestrian  orders  furnished  several  converts  open  or  concealed. 
Pliny  laments,  that  in  Asia  Minor  men  of  every  rank,  omnis 
ordinis,  go  over  to  the  Christians.  The  numerous  church 
fathers  from  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  a  Justin  Martyr, 
Irenaeus,  Hippolytus,  Clement,  Origen,  Tertullian,  Cyprian, 
excelled,  or  at  least  equalled  in  talent  and  culture,  their  most 
eminent  heathen  contemj)oraries.  Nor  was  this  progress  con- 
fined to  any  particular  localities.  It  extended  alike  over  all 
parts  of  the  empire.  "We  are  a  people  of  yesterday,"  says  Ter- 
tullian in  his  Apology,  "and  yet  we  have  filled  every  place 


150  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

belonging  to  you — cities,  islands,  castles,  towns,  assemblies,  your 

very  camp,  your  tribes,  comjDanies,  palace,  senate,  forum !     We 

fl '    leave  you  your  temples  only.     We  can  count  your  armies  ;  our 

^    '^     numbers  in  a  single  province  will  be  greater."     All  these  facts 

'         C     expose  the  injustice  of  the  odious  charge  of  Celsus,  repeated  by  a 

\       '     modern  sceptic,  that  the  new  sect  was  almost  entirely  composed 

P  of  the  dregs  of  the  populace — of  peasants  and  mechanics,  of  boys 

'  and  women,  of  beggars  and  slaves. 

The  chief  positive  cause  of  the  rapid  spread  of  Christianity  is 
to  be  found  in  its  own  absolute  intrinsic  worth,  as  the  only  true, 
divinely  revealed,  universal  religion  of  redemption.     Thus  its 
value  could  be  seen  in  the  truth  and  self-evidencing  power  of  its 
doctrines  ;  in  the  purity  and  elevation  of  its  precepts ;  in  its  rege- 
nerating and  sanctifying  effects  on  heart  and  life ;  in  the  faith, 
the  brotherly  love,  the  beneficence,  and  the  triumphant  death  of 
its   confessors;  in  its  adaptation  to  all  classes,  conditions,   and 
relations  among  men.     To  this  were  added  the  powerful  outward 
proof  of  its  divine  origin  in  the  prophecies  and  types  of  the  Old 
Testament,  so  strikingly  fulfilled  in  the  New ;  and  finally,  the 
/    testimony  of  the  miracles,  which,  according  to  the  express  statement 
!     of  Quadratus,  of  Justin  Martyr,  Irenaeus,  Tertullian,  Origen,  and 
j     others,  continued  in  this  period  to  accompanj^  the  preaching  of 
\    missionaries  from  time  to  time,  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen. 
Particularly  favorable  outward  circumstances  were  the  extent, 
order,  and  unity  of.  the  Eoman  empire,  and  the  prevalence  of  the 
Grecian  culture. 

In  addition  to  these  positive  causes,  Christianity  had  a  powerful 
negative  advantage  in  the  hopeless  condition  of  the  Jewish  and 
heathen  world.  Since  the  fearful  judgment  of  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  Judaism  had  wandered  restless  and  accursed,  without 
national  existence.  Heathenism  outwardly  held  sway,  but  was 
inwardly  rotten  and  in  process  of  inevitable  decay.  The  popular 
religion  and  public  morality  were  undermined  by  a  sceptical  and 
materialistic  philosophy  ;  Grecian  science  and  art  had  lost  their 
creative  energy  ;  the  Roman  empire  rested  only  on  the  power  of 
the  sword  and  of  temporal  interests ;  the  moral  bonds  of  society 


§   47.      HINDRANCES   AND   HELPS.  151 

were  sundered ;  unbounded  avarice  and  vice  of  every  kind, 
even  by  the  confession  of  a  Tacitus  and  a  Seneca,  reigned  in 
Rome  and  in  the  provinces,  from  the  throne  to  the  hoveL  No- 
thing, that  chissic  antiquity  in  its  fairest  days  had  produced, 
coukl  heal  the  fatal  wounds  of  the  age,  or  even  give  transient 
relief.  The  only  star  of  hope  in  the  gathering  night  was  the 
young,  the  fresh,  the  dauntless  religion  of  Jesus,  fearless  of  death, 
strong  in  faith,  glowing  with  love,  and  destined  to  commend  itself 
more  and  more  to  all  reflecting  minds  as  the  only  living  religion 
of  the  present  and  the  future.  "  Christ  appeared,"  says  Augus- 
tine, "  to  the  men  of  the  decrepit,  decaying  world,  that  while  all 
around  them  was  withering  away,  they  might  through  him  receive 
new,  youthful  life." 

The  gospel  was  propagated  chiefly,  of  course,  by  the  living 
preaching  of  the  gospel  and  by  personal  intercourse ;  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  also  through  the  sacred  Scriptures,  which  were 
early  propagated  and  translated  into  various  tongues,  especially 
the  Latin  and  the  Syriac.  Communication  among  the  different 
parts  of  the  Roman  empire  from  Damascus  to  Britain  was  com- 
paratively easy  and  safe.  The  highways  built  for  commerce  and  /^ 
for  the  Roman  legions,  served  also  the  messengers  of  peace  and  ) 
the  silent  conquests  of  the  cross. 

The  particular  mode,  as  well  as  the  precise  time,  of  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  into  the  several  countries  during  this 
period  is  for  the  most  part  uncertain,  and  we  know  juot  much 
more  than  the  fact  itself  No  doubt  much  more  was  done  by  the 
apostles  and  their  immediate  disciples,  than  the  New  Testament 
informs  us  of.  But  on  the  other  hand  the  mediaeval  tradition 
assigns  an  apostolic  origin  to  many  national  and  local  churches, 
which  cannot  have  arisen  before  the  second  or  third  century. 
Besides  the  regular  ministry,  slaves  and  women  particularly  7'" 
appear  to  have  performed  missionary  service,  and  to  have  intro- 
duced the  Christian  life  into  all  circles  of  society.  'Commerce, 
too,  at  that  time  as  well  as  now,  was  a  powerful  agency  in  carry- 
ing the  Gospel  and  the  seeds  of  Christian  civilization  to  the 
remotest  parts  of  the  Roman  empire. 


152  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D,    lOO-oll. 

§  48.   Clirisiicudtij  in  Asia  and  Africa. 

Justin  Martyr  says,  about  the  middle  of  the  second  cen- 
tury :  "  There  is  no  people,  Greek  or  barbarian,  or  of  any  other 
race,  by  whatsoever  appellation  or  manners  they  may  be  distin- 
guished, however  ignorant  of  arts  or  agriculture,  whether  they 
dwell  in  tents  or  wander  about  in  covered  waggons — among  whom 
prayers  and  thanksgivings  are  not  offered  in  the  name  of  the  cru- 
cified Jesus  to  the  Father  and  creator  of  all  things."  This,  and 
similar  passages  of  Tertullian,  Origen,  and  Arnobius,  are  evi- 
dently rhetorical  exaggerations.  But  it  may  be  fairly  asserted, 
that  about  the  end  of  the  third  century  the  name  of  Christ  was 
known,  revered,  and  persecuted  in  every  province  and  every 
town  of  the  empire.  Maximin,  in  one  of  his  edicts,  says  that 
"  almost  all"  had  abandoned^  the  worship  of  their  ancestors  for 
the  new  sect.  In  the  absence  of  all  statistics,  the  number  of  the 
Christians  must  be  purely  a  matter  of  conjecture.^  In  all  proba- 
bility it  amounted  at  the  time  to  about  one-tenth  of  the  subjects 
of  Kome ;  and  the  fact,  that  these  were  a  closely  united  body, 
daily  increasing,  while  the  heathen  were  for  the  most  part  a 
loose  aggregation,  daily  diminishing  with  the  increase  of  the 
others,  made  the  true  prospective  strength  of  the  church  much 
greater. 

The  propagation  of  Christianity  among  the  barbarians  in  the 
provinces  of  Asia  and  the  north-west  of  Europe  beyond  the 
Koman  empire,  was  at  first,  of  course,  too  remote  from  the  cur- 
rent of  history  to  be  of  any  great  immediate  importance.  But  it 
prej)ared  the  way  for  the  civilization  of  those  regions,  and  their 
subsequent  position  in  the  world. 

Asia  was  the  cradle  of  Christianity,  as  it  was  of  humanity  and 
civilization.  The  apostles  themselves  had  spread  the  new  reli- 
gion over  Palestine,  Syria,  and  Asia  Minor.  According  to  the 
younger  Pliny,  under  Trajan,  the  temples  of  the  gods  in  Asia 
Minor  were  almost  forsaken,  and  animals  of  sacrifice  found  hardly 

'  Gibbon  estimates  this  number  at  the  acceBsion  of  CoiisttuUine  evidently  too  low 
at  one-twentieth,  Matter  and  HoViertson  too  high  at  onclifth  of  his  subjects. 


§   48.      CHRISTIANITY   IN   ASIA  AND  AFRICA.  153 

any  purcliasers.  In  the  second  century  Christianity  pene- 
trated to  Edessa  in  Mesopotamia,  and  some  distance  into  Persia, 
Media,  Bactria,  and  Parthia  ;  and  in  the  third,  into  Armenia  and 
Arabia.  Paul  himself  had,  indeed,  spent  three  years  in  Arabia,  ')  / 
but  probably  in  contemplative  retirement,  preparing  for  his  apos- 
tolic ministry .1  There  is  a  legend,  that  the  apostles  Thomas  and 
Bartholomew  carried  the  gospel  to  India.  But  a  more  credible 
statement  is,  that  the  Christian  teacher  Pantaenus  of  Alexandria 
journeyed  to  that  country  about  190,  and  that  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury churches  were  found  there. 

In  Africa  Christianity  gained  firm  foothold  first  in  Egypt,  and 
there  probably  as  early  as  the  apostolic  age.     According  to  un-    ^nP^ 
contradicted  tradition  the  evangelist  Mark  laid  the  foundation    f frAQA 
of  the  church  of  Alexandria,  the  metropolis  of  Egyptian  com-  ,'i    't^\ 
merce  and  of  oriental  Grecian  culture.     The  first  bishops  of  that    ,  ^;J^ 
church  are  named  by  Eusebius  as  Annianos  (62-85),  Abilios-'",  /   "^ 
(to  98),  and  Kerdon  (to  110).     So  early  as  the  second  century  a  ^ 
flourishing  theological  school  existed  there,  in  which  Clement  and 
Origen  taught.     From  Lower  Egypt  the  gospel  spread  to  Middle 
and  Upper  Egypt  and  the  adjacent  provinces,  perhaps  as  far  as 
Ethiopia  and  Abyssinia.     At  a  council  of  Alexandria  in  the  year 
235,  twenty  bishops  were  present  from  the  different  parts  of 
Egypt. 

In  proconsular  Africa  and  its  capital,  Carthage,  Christianity 
arrived  in  the  second  century,  if  not  in  the  first,  and  probably 
from  Eome.  In  Tertullian  that  province  became  the  birth-place 
of  Latin  theolog}^  On  the  burning  sands  of  Mauritania  and 
Numidia,  about  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  the  Christians 
were  so  numerous,  that  CyjDrian  could  assemble  in  258  a  synod 
of  eighty -seven  bishops.  In  308  the  schismatical  Donatists  alone 
held  a  council  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  bishops  at  Carthage. 
Though  at  that  period  the  dioceses  were  no  doubt  much  smaller  / 
than  in  later  times.  ^ 

» Gal.  L  It. 


/ 


15.1:  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

§  49.   Chisiiamtf/  in  Europe. 

The  cliurcli  of  Rome  was  bj  far  the  most  important  one  for  all 
the  west.  According  to  Eusebius,  it  had  in  the  middle  of  the 
third  century  one  bishop,  forty-six  j^resbyters,  seven  deacons  with 
as  man}^  sub-deacons,  forty-two  acolyths,  fifty  readers,  exorcists, 
^nd  door-keej^ers,  and  fifteen  liundred  widows  and  poor  persons 
under  its  care.  From  this  we  might  estimate  the  number  of  mem- 
bers at  some  fifty  or  sixty  thousand,  i.e.  about  one-twentieth  of 
the  f)opulation  of  the  city,  which  cannot  be  accurately  determined 
indeed,  but  must  have  exceeded  one  million  during  the  reign  of 
the  Caesars.^ 

From  Rome  the  church  spread  to  all  the  cities  of  Italy.  The 
first  Roman  provincial  synod,  of  which  we  have  information,  num- 
bered 12  bishops  under  the  presidency  of  Telesphorus  (142-154). 
In  the  middle  of  the  third  century  (255)  Cornelius  of  Rome  held 
a  council  of  sixty  bishops. 

The  persecution  of  the  year  177  shows  the  church  already 
planted  in  the  south  of  Gaul  in  the  second  century.  Christianity 
came  hither  probably  from  the  East ;  for  the  churches  of  Lyons 
and  Vienne  were  intimately  connected  with  those  of  Asia  Minor, 
to  which  they  sent  a  report  of  the  joersecution,  and  Irenaeus, 
bishop  of  Lyons,  was  a  disciple  of  Polycarp  of  Smyrna.  Gre- 
gory of  Tours  states,  that  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century 
seven  missionaries  were  sent  from  Rome  to  Gaul.  One  of  these, 
Dionysius,  founded  the  first  church  of  Paris,  died  a  martyr  at 
Montmartre,  and  became  the  patron  saint  of  France.  Popular 
superstition  afterwards  confounded  him  with  Dionysius  the  Areo.* 
pagite,  who  was  converted  by  Paul  at  Athens. 

Spain  probably  became  acquainted  with  Christianity  likewise 
In  the  second  century,  though  no  clear  traces  of  churches  and 

'  Gibbon,  in  his  thirty-first  chnpter,  and  Milman  estimate  the  popuhation  of  Rome 
at  1,200,000;  Hocck  (on  the  basis  of  the  Monumcntum  Ancyranum),  Zumpt  and 
Ilowson  at  two  milhons;  Bunsen  somewiiat  lower;  while  Dureau  de  la  Malle 
tries  to  reduce  it  to  half  a  million  on  the  ground  that  the  walls  of  Scrvius  Tullius 
occupied  an  area  only  one  fifth  of  that  of  Pans.  But  these  walls  no  longer  marked 
the  limits  of  the  cit)'  since  its  reconstruction  after  the  conllagration  under  Nero,  and 
the  suburbs  stretched  to  an  unlimited  extent  into  the  country. 


§  49.     CHRISTIANITY   IN   EUEOPE.  155 

bishops  there  meet  us  till  the  middle  of  the  third.  The  council 
of  Eliberis  in  305  numbered  nineteen  bishops.  The  apostle  Paul 
once  formed  the  plan  of  a  journey  to  Spaing  but  probably  never 
carried  it  out,  unless  the  much  disputed  phrase,  "  limit  of  the 
west,"  in  a  passage  of  Clement,  mast  mean  this  country.  The 
legend,  that  James  the  Elder,  who  was  executed  at  Jerusalem  in 
44,  brought  the  gosj)el  to  Spain,  and  now  lies  buried  at  Compos- 
tella,  the  famous  place  of  pilgrimage,  where  his  bones  were  first 
discovered  under  Alphonso  IL,  towards  the  close  of  the  eighth 
century,  is  absurd,  and  rests  on  a  chronological  impossibility. 

When  Irenaeus  speaks  of  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  among 
the  Germans  and  other  barbarians,  who,  "without  paper  and  ink, 
have  salvation  written  in  their  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  he 
can  refer  only  to  the  parts  of  Germany  belonging  to  the  Eoman 
empire,  Germania  cisrhenana. 

According  to  Tertullian  Britain  also  was  brought  under  the 
power  of  the  cross  towards  the  end  of  the  second  century.  The 
gospel  came  thither  probably  first  from  the  East  through  south 
Gaul,  and  afterwards  from  Italy  also.  The  venerable  Bede  (f  735) 
says,  that  the  British  king  Lucius  (about  167)  applied  to  the 
Koman  bishop  Eleutherus  for  missionaries.  At  the  council  of 
Arelate  in  314  three  British  bishops,  of  Eboracum  (York),  Lon- 
dinum  (London),  and  Colonia  L'ondinensium^  (Lincoln),  were 
present. 

'  Rom.  XV.  24. 

"  Which  is  supposed  to  be  a  mistake  for  Col.  Lindensium, 


156  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 


CHAPTER  11. 


PERSECUTION  OF  THE   CHURCH  AND   CHRISTIAN  MARTYRDOM. 


I.  EusEBius :  H.  E.,  particularly  Lib.  viii.  and  ix.     Lact antics  :  De  mortibus 

persecutorum.  The  Apologies  of  Justin  Martyr,  Minucius  Felix,  Ter- 
TCLLiAN,  and  Origen,  and  the  Epistles  of  Cyprian.  Tdeod.  Ruinart: 
Acta  primorum  martyrum  sincera  et  selecta.  Par.  1G89.  2nd  ed.  Am- 
stel.  1713  (covering  the  first  4  cents.).  Several  biographies  in  the  Acta 
Sanctorum.  Antw.  164.3  sqq.  Les  Acts  des  martyrs  dcpuis  I'origine  de 
Teglise  Chretienne  jusqu'u,  nos  temps.  Traduits  et  publics  par  les  R.R. 
P.P.  benedictins  de  la  congreg.  de  France.     Par.  1857  sqq. 

II.  J.  Fox :  Acts  and  Monuments  of  the  Church  (commonly  called  Book  of 

Martyrs),  first  publ.  Lond.  1553,  and  very  often  since.  Kortuoldt  :  De 
pcrsecutionibus  eccl.  primaevae.  Kiloni,  1629.  Gibbon:  chap.  xvi. 
Munter:  Die  Christin  im  heidnischen  Hause  vor  Constantin.  Copenh. 
1828.  ScnuMANN  von  Mansegg  (R.C.)  :  Die  Verfolgungen  dor  ersten 
christlichen  Kirche.  Vienna,  1821.  Ad.  Schmidt:  Geschichte  der  Denk- 
u.  Glaubensfreiheit  in  den  ersten  Jahrhunderten  der  Kaiserherrschaft. 
Berl.  1847.  Kritzler:  Die  Heldenzeiten  des  Christenthums.  Yol.  i. 
Der  Kampf  mit  dem  Heidenthum.    Leipz.  1856. 

§  50.  Jewish  Persecution. 

Fr.  Munter:    Der  Judische   Krieg  unter  Trajan  u.  Hadrian.     Altona  and 
Leipz.  1821.     Deyling  :  Aeliae  Capitol,  origines  et  historiae.  Lips.  1743. 

The  persecutions  of  tlic  Christian  church  proceeded  partly  from 
the  Jews  and  partly  from  the  Gentiles.  The  Jews  had  already 
displayed  their  obstinate  unbelief  and  bitter  hatred  of  the  gospel 
in  the  crucifixion  of  Christ,  the  stoning  of  Stephen,  the  execution 
of  James  the  Elder,  the  repeated  incarcerations  of  Peter  and 
John,  the  wild  rage  against  Paul,  and  the  murder  of  James  the 
Just.  No  wonder,  that  the  fearful  judgment  of  God  at  last  visited 
this  ingratitude  upon  them  in  the  destruction  of  the  holy  city  and 
the  temple,  from  which  the  Christians  found  refuge  in  Pella. 


§   50.      THE   JEWISH   PERSECUTION".  157 

But  tliis  tragical  fate  could  break  only  the  national  power  of 
tlie  Jews,  not  their  hatred  of  Christianity.  They  caused  the 
death  of  Symeon,  bishop  of  Jerusalem  (107);  they  were  par- 
ticularly active  in  the  burning  of  Polycarp  of  Smyrna ;  and  they 
inflamed  the  violence  of  the  Gentiles  by  calumniating  the  sect  of 
the  Nazarenes. 

By  severe  oppression  under  Trajan  and  Hadrian,  and  the  dese- 
cration of  Jerusalem  with  the  idolatry  of  the  pagans,  the  Jews 
were  provoked  to  a  new  insurrection  (a.d.  132-135).  A  pseudo- 
Messiah,  Bar-Cochba  (son  of  the  stars,  Num.  xxiv.  17),  after- 
wards called  Bar-Cosiba  (son  of  falsehood),  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  rebels,  and  caused  all  the  Christians  who  would  not 
join  him,  to  be  most  cruelly  murdered.  But  the  false  prophet 
was  defeated  by  Hadrian's  general  in  135,  more  than  a  half 
million  of  Jews  slaughtered  after  a  desperate  resistance,  Pales- 
tine entirely  laid  waste,  Jerusalem  again  destroyed,  and  a  Roman 
colony,  Aelia  Capitolina,  erected  on  its  ruins  with  an  image  of 
Jupiter  and  a  temple  of  Yenus.  The  Jews  were  forbidden  to 
visit  the  holy  spot  upon  pain  of  death ;  only  on  the  anniversary 
of  the  destruction  were  they  allowed  to  behold  and  bewail  it  from 
a  neighboring  hill. 

After  this  they  had  no  opportunity  for  any  further  indepen- 
dent persecution  of  the  Christians.  Yet  they  continued  to  cir- 
culate horrible  calumnies  on  Jesus  and  his  followers.  Their 
learned  schools  at  Tiberias  and  Babylon  nourished  this  bitter 
hostility.  The  Talmud,  of  which  the  first  part  (the  Mishna)  was 
composed  towards  the  end  of  the  second  century,  and  the  second 
part  (the  Gemara)  in  the  fourth  century,  well  represents  the 
Judaism  of  its  day,  stiff,  traditional,  stagnant,  and  anti-Christian. 
Subsequently  the  Jerusalem  Talmud  was  ecliiDsed  by  the  Baby- 
lonian (430-521),  a  still  more  distinct  expression  of  Rabbinism. 
The  terrible  imprecation  on  apostates  (precatio  haereticorum), 
designed  to  deter  Jews  from  going  over  to  the  Christian  faith,, 
comes  from  the  second  century,  and  is  stated  by  the  Talmud  to 
have  been  composed  at  Jafna,  where  the  Sanhedrim  at  that  time 
had  its  S3at,  by  the  younger  Rabbi  Gamaliel. 


158  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

» 

Unfortunately,  tliis  people,  still  remarkable  even  in  its  tragical 
end,  was  in  many  ways  cruelly  oppressed  and  persecuted  by  the 
Christians  after  Constantine,  and  thereby  only  confirmed  in  its 
fanatical  hatred  of  them.  But  through  all  changes  of  fortune 
God  has  preserved  it  as  a  living  monument  of  his  justice  and  his 
mercy ;  and  he  will  undoubtedly  assign  it  an  important  part  in 
the  consummation  of  his  kingdom  at  the  second  coming  of 
Christ.  "^  "^~ 

§  51.  Heathen  Persecution.     Its  Causes  and  Effects. 
See  Liter,  before  §  50. 

The  policy  of  the  Roman  government,  the  fanaticism  of  the  super- 
stitious people,  and  the  self-interest  of  the  pagan  pricgts  conspired 
for  the  persecution  of  a  religion,  which  threatened  to  demolish 
the  tottering  fabric  of  idolatry  ;  and  they  left  no  expedients  of 
legislation,  of  violence,  of  craft,  and  of  wickedness  untried,  to 
blot  it  from  the  earth. 

Justin,  Tertullian,  and  other  early  church  teachers  traced  the 
persecution  of  the  Christians  ultimately  to  Satan  and  the  demons, 
but  ascribed  to  it  at  the  same  time  an  ethical  character  as  a 
punishment  for  past  sins,  a  school  of  Christian  virtue,  or  a  means 
of  awakening  faith.  Some  denied  that  martyrdom,  or  death  in 
general,  was  an  evil,  since  it  only  brought  Christians  the  sooner 
to  God,  the  goal  of  their  hopes. 

To  glance  first  at  the  relation  of  the  Roman  state  to  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  So  long  as  Christianity  was  regarded  b}"  the 
Romans  as  a  mere  sect  of  Judaism,  it  shared  the  "hatred  and  con- 
tempt, indeed,  but  also  the  legal  protection  bestowed  on  that 
ancient  national  religion.  It  was  at  first  considered  by  the  bet- 
ter classes,  even  by  the  great  historian  Tacitus,  as  a  vulgar  super- 
stition, hardly  worthy  of  their  notice.  But  it  was  for  too 
important  a  phenomenon,  and  made  far  too  rapid  progress  to  be 
long  thus  ignored.  So  soon  as  it  was  understood  in  its  true  cha- 
racter as  a  neio  religion,  and  as,  in  fact,  claiming  universal  validity 
and  acceptance,  it  was  set  down  as  unlawful  and  treasonal)le,  a 


ip?^^^7;^y  ^^-r^  i^:^v''M'-^^ 


^^^///  ^j^^m"^  //":, 


51.      HEATHEN  PERSECUTION".  159" 


religio  illicita ;   and  it  was  the  constant  reproacli  of  tlie  Cliris-    'V^^ 
tians:  you  have  no  right  to  exist.^  ^   'J;;'^ 

For  with  all  its  professed  tolerance   the  Koman   state  was     r'%-  K 
thoroughly  interwoven' with  heathen  idolatry,  and  made  religion     s  ^'^    ,. 
a  tool   of  its   policy.     The  emperor  was  ex-officio  ihe  pontifex  ^*\^ 
maximus  ;  the  gods  were  national ;  and  the  eagle  of  Jupiter  Capi-     •«   4    ^ 
tolinus  moved  as   a   good  genius  before  the  world-conquering  X^.t^    "^ 
legions.     Cicero  lays  down  as  a  principle  of  legislation,  that  no 
one  should  be  allowed  to  worship  foreign  gods,  unless  they  were     ;■  , " 
recognised  by  public  statute.^     Maecenas  counselled  Augustus  :    ,::,^  *  >■ 
"  Honor  the  gods  according  to  the  custom  of  our  ancestors,  and  Hs^"  fe    ^ 
compeP  others  to  worship  them.     Hate  and  punish  those  whoV|   ^   > 
bring  in  strange  gods."     The  ancient  world  generally  was  based  ,v^    . 
upon  the  absolutism  of  the  state,  which  mercilessly  trampled    .  . -  •§  v% 
under  foot  the   individual  rights   of  men.      It  is  Christianity 
which  first  taught  and  acknowledged  them.     The  Christian  apo- 
logists first  proclaimed,  however  imperfectly,  the  principle  of 
freedom  of  religion,  and  the  sacred  rights  of  conscience.     Ter- 
tuUian,  in  prophetic  anticipation  as  it  were  of  the  modern  Protes-   I 
tant  theory,   boldly  tells   the  heathen   that  everybody  had  a    ^ 
natural  and  inalienable  right  to  worship  God  according  to  his  con-  l^ 
viction,  that  all  compulsion  in  matters  of  conscience  was  con-   .' 
trary  to  the  very  nature  of  religion,  and  that  no  form  of  worship    / 
had  any  value  whatever  except  as  far  as  it  was  a  free  voluntary 
homage  of  the  heart.* 

It  is  true  the  senate  and  emperor,  by  special  edicts,  usually 
allowed  conquered  nations  the  free  practice  of  their  worship  even 
in  Home ;  not,  however,  from  regard  for  the  sacred  rights  of 
conscience,  but  merely  from  policy,  and  with  the  express  prohi- 
bition of  making  proselytes  from  the  state  religion,  hence  severe 
laws  were  published  from  time  to  time  against  transition  to 
Judaism. 

'  Noa  licet  esse  vos.,,.  *  Nisi  publice  adscitos. 

'  di/ayxa^E,  according  to  Dio  Cassius. 

^  See  the  remarkable  passage  ad  Scapulam  c.  2 :  Tameu  humani  juris  et  naturalis     ,  (^  ' 
2'>otestatis   est  unicuique  quod  putaverit  colere,   nee  alii  obest   ant  prodest  alterius  \,  • 

religio.     Sed  nee  religionis  est  cogere  religionera,  quae  sjMnie  suscipi  debeat,  non  vi, 


-1^4 


fvi 


160  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

To  Christianity,  appearing  not  as  a  national  religion,  but  claim- 
ing ■  to  be  the  only  true  universal  one,  and  threatening  in  fact 
the  existence  of  the  Roman  state  religion,  even  this  limited  tole- 
ration could  not  apply.  The  same  all-absorbing  political  interest 
of  Rome  dictated  here  the  opposite  course,  and  Tertullian  is  hardly 
just  in  charging  the  Romans  with  inconsistency  for  tolerating  the 
worship  of  all  false  gods,  from  wliom  they  had  nothing  to  fear, 
and  prohibiting  the  worship  of  the  only  true  God  wlio  is  Lord 
over  all.^  Born  under  Augustus,  and  crucified  under  Tiberius  at 
the  sentence  of  the  Roman  magistrate,  Christ  stood  as  the  founder 
of  a  spiritual  universal  empire  at  the  head  of  the  most  important 
epoch  of  the  Roman  power,  a  rival  not  to  be  endured.  The 
reign  of  Constantino  subsequently  showed  that  the  free  toleration 
of  Christianity  was  the  death-blow  to  the  Roman  state  religion. 

Then,  too,  the  conscientious  refusal  of  the  Christians  to  pay 
divine  honors  to  the  emperor  and  his  statue,  and  to  take  part  in 
any  idolatrous  ceremonies  at  public  festivities,  their  aversion  to 
the  imperial  military  service,  their  disregard  for  politics  and 
depreciation  of  all  civil  and  temporal  affairs  as  compared  with  the 
spiritual  and  eternal  interests  of  man,  their  close  brotherly  union 
and  frequent  meetings,  drew  upon  them  the  suspicion  of  hos- 
tility to  the  Caesars  and  the  Roman  people,^  and  the  unpardon- 
able crime  of  conspiracy  against  the  state.  • 

The  common  people  also,  with  their  polytheistic  ideas,  abhorred 
the  believers  in  the  one  God  as  atheists  and  enemies  of  the  gods. 
They  readily  gave  credit  to  the  slanderous  rumors  of  all  sorts 
of  abominations,  even  incest  and  cannibalism,  practised  by  the 


cum  et  hostiao  ab  animo  libonti  expostulciitiir.  Ila  ctsi  nos  compulcritis  ad  sacrifi- 
candum,  niliil  praestabitis  diis  vestris.  Ab  invitis  enim  sacriflcia  non  dcsiderabunt, 
nisi  si  contentiosi  sunt;  contentiosus  auicm  deus  non  est.  Conip.  the  similar  passage 
in  Tert.  Apolog.  c.  24,  wliero  after  enumerating  the  various  forms  of  idolatry  whicii 
enjoyed  free  toleration  in  the  empire  ho  continues:  Yidete  enim  ne  ct  hoc  ad  irreli- 
giositatis  elogium  concurrat,  adimero  libertatem  religionis  et  interdiccre  optionem 
diviuitatis,  ut  non  liceat  mihi  colore  qucm  velim  sed  cogar  colere  quern  nolim.  Nemo 
se  ab  invito  coli  volet,  ne  homo  quidcm. 

'  Apolog.  c.  24  at  the  close:  Apud  vos  quodvLs  colcrc  jus  est  praetcr  Deum  veruni, 
quasi  non  hie  magis  omnium  sit  Deus  cuius  omnes  sumus. 

^  llcncc  tlie  reproachful  designation,  "  llostcs  Caesarum  et  populi  Romani." 


§   51.      HEATHEN    rERSECUTIOX.  161 

Cliristians  at  their  religious  assemblies  and  love-feasts,  and  regarded 
the  frequent  public  calamities  of  that  age  as  punishments  justly 
inflicted  by  the  angry  gods  for  the  disregard  of  their  worship.  In 
North  Africa  arose  the  proverb :  "  If  God  does  not  send  rain,  lay 
it  to  the  Christians."  At  every  inundation,  or  drought,  or  famine, 
or  pestilence,  the  fanatical  j)opulace  cried:  "Away  with  the 
atheists !     To  the  lions  with  the  Christians ! " 

Finally,  persecutions  were  sometimes  started  by  priests,  jug- 
glers, artificers,  merchants,  and  others,  who  derived  their  support 
from  the  idolatrous  worship.  These,  like  Demetrius  at  Ephesus,^ 
and  the  masters  of  the- sorceress  at  Philippi,^  kindled  the  fanati- 
cism and  indignation  of  the  mob  against  the  new  religion  for  its 
interference  with  their  gains. 

From  the  fourth  century  it  has  been  customary,  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  the  ten  plagues  of  Egypt  taken  as  types,^  and  the  ten 
horns  making  war  with  the  Lamb  in  the  Apocalypse,^  taken  for 
as  many  Roman  emperors,  to  reckon  ten  great  persecutions  of 
the  Christians,  under  Nero,  Domitian,  Trajan,  Marcus  Aurelius,, 
Septimius  Severus,  Maximinus,  Decius,  Yalerian,  Aurelian,  and 
Diocletian,  respectively.  But  this  number  is  in  any  view  incor- 
rect ;  too  great  for  the  general  persecutions,  and  far  too  small  for 
the  provincial  and  local.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  some  of  "^ 
the  best  emperors,  Trajan,  Marcus  Aurelius,  Decius,  and  Diocle- 
tian, were  among  the  severest  persecutors,  because  they  were 
really  concerned  about  the  laws  of  the  state  and  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  ancient  fabric ;  while  some  of  the  most  worthless, 
Commodus,  Caracalla,  and  Heliogabalus,  were  rather  favorable 
to  the  Christians,  though  of  course  not  from  principle,  but  only 
from  caprice.  In  Nero,  Domitian,  and  Galerius,  on  the  contrar}^, 
the  hatred  of  the  Christians  was  coupled  with  the  most  unnatural 
cruelty  and  the  most  shameless  vice. 

This  long- continued  and  bloody  war  against  that  church  which 
was  built  upon  a  rock,  utterly  failed  of  its  end.  Aiming  to  exter- 
minate, it  only  purified.  It  called  forth  the  virtues  of  Christian 
heroism,  and  resulted  only  in  the  confirmation  and  sj)read  of  the 

\    '  Acts  xix.  2i.  ^  Acts  xvi.  16.  '  Exod.  v.-x.  ■■  Rev..xvii.  12  sqq. 

11 


162  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

new  religion.     The  pliilosopliy  of  these  persecutions  is  briefly 
and  well  expressed  by  Tertullian,  who  lived  in  the  midst  of  them, 
in  his  well-known  word :  "  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed 
*4i^  ^  ^'P  of  the  church" — "  Semen  est  sanguis  Christianorum." 

§  52.   Condition  of  the  Church  from  Nero  to  Nerva. 

SuETox. :  Claud,  c.  25.  Nero,  c.  16.  Tacit.  :  Annal.  XV.  44.  Dio  Cass.  : 
(Epit.  Xiphil.)  LXVII.  14.  Euseb.  :  Chron.  II.  ad  Olymp.  218.  H. 
Eccl.  III.  13,  15. 

The  first  persecutions  by  the  Roman  emperors  fall  in  the  apos- 
tolic age,  but  may  be  briefly  noticed  here  for  the  sake  of  the 
connexion. 

The  tradition,  that  Tiberius  (A.D.  14-37),  frightened  by  Pilate's 
account  of  the  death  and  resurrection  of  the  Redeemer,  proposed 
to  the  senate,  without  success,  the  enrolment  of  Christ  among 
the  Roman  deities,  rests  only  on  the  questionable  authority  of 
Tertullian.  The  edict  of  Claudius  (42-54)  in  the  year  53,  ban- 
ishing the  Jews  from  Rome  for  sedition,  fell  also  upon  the  Chris- 
tians, but  only  through  the  mistake  of  the  government,  which 
at  that  time  confounded  them  with  the  Jews, 

The  succession  of  proper  persecutors  among  the  emperors 
opens  with  Nero  (54-68),  who  is  branded  in  history  as  in  other 
respects  a  heartless  tyrant,  the  murderer  of  his  mother,  of  liis 
wife,  of  his  preceptors  (Burrus  and  Seneca),  and  at  last  of  him- 
self. The  awful  persecution  of  the  year  64,  in  which,  soon  after 
the  six  days'  conflagration  of  Rome,  a  great  multitude  of  inno- 
cent Christians  were  tortured  to  death  with  the  most  exquisite 
cruelties,  has  already  been  mentioned  in  the  first  period  in  con- 
nexion with  the  martyrdom  of  Peter  and  Paul.^  It  was  not 
occasioned,  indeed,  directly  by  the  religion  of  the  sufferers,  but 
by  the  malicious  imputation  to  them  of  the  incendiarism,  of  which 
the  emperor  himself  was  guilty.  Yet  it  indicates  a  popular  pre- 
possession against  the  Christians ;  and  Tacitus,  in  fact,  says,  that 
they  were  charged  not  with  the  incendiarism,  but  with  misan- 
thropy, and  were  suspected  of  other  crimes.^     Thus  this  diaboli- 

'  g  17,  p.  G4.         ^  Per  flagitia  iavisoa. 


§   53.      FROM  TRAJAN  TO  ANTONINUS   PIUS.  163 

cal  movement  was  a  general  declaration  of  war  against  tlie  new 
religion.  It  became  a  common  saying  among  tlie  Christians,  that 
jSTero  would  reappear  as  antichrist. 

During  the  rapidly  succeeding  reigns  of  Galba,  Otho,  Vitellius, 
Yespasian,  and  Titus,  the  church,  so  far  as  we  know,  enjoyed 
repose.  But  under  Domitian  (81-96),  a  suspicious  and  blasphe- 
mous tyrant,  accustomed  to  call  himself  and  to  be  called  "  Lord 
and  God,"  a  new  persecution  broke  out.  This  emperor  treated 
the  embracing  of  Christianity  as  a  crime  against  the  state,  and 
condemned  to  death  many  Christians,  even  his  own  cousin,  the 
consul  Flavins  Clemens,  on  the  charge  of  atheism ;  or  confiscated 
their  property,  and  sent  them,  as  in  the  case  of  the  apostle  John, 
and  of  Domitilla,  the  wife  of  the  Clemens  just  mentioned,  into 
exile.  His  jealousy  also  led  him  to  destroy  the  surviving  de- 
scendants of  David ;  and  he  brought  from  Palestine  to  Kome  two 
kinsmen  of  Jesus,  grandsons  of  Judas  the  "  brother  of  the  Lord," 
but  seeing  their  poverty  and  rustic  simplicity,  and  hearing  their 
explanation  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  as  not  earthly,  but  hea- 
venly, to  be  established  by  the  Lord  at  the  end  of  the  world, 
when  he  should  come  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead,  he  let 
them  go.  Tradition  assigns  to  the  reign  of  Domitian  the  banish- 
ment of  St.  John  to  Patmos  (also  his  miraculous  preservation 
from  martyrdom  by  boiling  oil  in  Rome,  which  is  attested,  how- 
ever, only  by  Tertullian),  and  the  martyrdom  of  Andrew,  Mark, 
Onesimus,  and  Dionysius  the  Areopagite. 

His  humane  and  justice-loving  successor,  Nerva  (96-98),  re- 
called the  banished,  and  refused  to  treat  the  confession  of  Chris- 
tianity as  a  political  crime,  though  he  did  not  recognise  the  new 
religion  as  a  religio  licita. 

§  53.  From  Trajan  to  Antoninus  Pius. 

Plinius,  jun. :  Epist.  X.  96  and  97  (al.  97  sq.).    Euseb.  :  H.  E.  III.  11,  32,  26. 
Acta  Martyrii  Ignatii,  in  Ruinart,  p.  8  sqq.     Justin  :  Apol.  I.  c.  68 

Trajan  (a.d.  98-117),  one  of  the  best  and  most  praiseworthy 
emperors,  honored  as  the  "father  of  his  country,"  but,  like  his 


164  SECOND    PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

friends,  Tacitus  and  Pliny,  wholly  ignorant  of  the  nature  of 
Christianity,  wa?  the  iii'st  to  pronounce  it  in  form  a  proscribed 
religion,  as  it  had  been  all  along  in  fact.  He  revived  the  rigid 
laws  against  all  secret  societies,^  and  the  provincial  officers 
applied  them  to  the  Christians,  on  account  of  their  frequent 
meetings  for  worship.  The  younger  Pliny,  for  example,  did 
this  in  Bithynia,  of  which  he  was  then  governor.  He  saw  in 
Christianity  only  a  "  prava  et  immodica  superstitio."  In  a  re- 
markable letter  to  the  emperor  he  says,  that  this  superstition 
is  constantly  spreading  not  only  in  the  cities,  but  also  in  the  vil- 
lages of  Asia  Minor,  and  captivates  people  of  every  age,  rank, 
and  sex,  so  that  the  temples  are  almost  forsaken  and  the  sacri- 
ficial victims  find  no  sale.  To  stop  this  progress,  he  condemned 
many  Christians  to  death,  and  sent  others,  who  were  Roman 
citizens,  to  the  imperial  tribunal.  But  he  requested  of  the  empe- 
ror further  instructions,  whether,  in  these  efforts,  he  should  have 
respect  to  age ;  whether  he  should  treat  the  mere  bearing  of  the 
Christian  name  as  a  crime,  if  there  were  no  other  offence,  &c. 

To  these  inquiries  Trajan  replied :  "  You  have  adopted  the 
right  course,  my  friend,  with  regard  to  the  Christians;  for  no 
universal  rule,  to  be  applied  to  all  cases,  can  be  fixed  in  this 
matter.  They  should  not  be  searched  for ;  but  when  accused 
and  convicted,  they  should  be  punished ;  yet  if  any  one  denies 
that  he  has  been  a  Christian,  and  proves  it  by  action,  namely, 
by.  worshipping  our  gods,  he  is  to  be  pardoned  upon  his  repent- 
ance, even  though  suspicion  may  still  cleave  to  him  from  his 
antecedents.  But  anonymous  accusations  must  not  be  admitted 
in  any  criminal  process ;  it  sets  a  bad  example,  and  is  contrary 
to  our  age"  (i.  e.  to  the  spirit  of  Trajan's  government). 

This  decision  was  much  milder  than  might  have  been  expected 
from  a  heathen  em2:)eror  of  the  old  Roman  stamp.  Tertullian 
charges  it  with  self  contradiction,  as  both  cruel  and  lenient,  for- 
bidding searching  for  Christians  and  commanding  their  punish- 
ment, thus  declaring  them  innocent  and  guilty  at  the  same  time. 
But  the  emperor  cvidontl)'  jiroccodixl  on  })(.)litical  })rinciples,  and 

'  'crripiat. 


§  53.   FROM  TEAJAX  TO  AXTOXINUS  PIUS.       165 

tliouglit  that  a  transient  and  contagious  entliusiasm,  as  Chris- 
tianity in  his  judgment  was,  could  be  suppressed  sooner  by  leav- 
ing it  unnoticed,  than  by  openly  assailing  it.  Though  every 
day  it  forced  itself  more  and  more  upon  public  attention,  as  it 
spread  with  the  irresistible  power  of  truth. 

This  rescript  might  give  occasion,  according  to  the  sentiment 
of  governors,  for  extreme  severity  towards  Christianity  as  a  secret 
union  and  a  religio  illicita.  Even  the  humane  Pliny  tells  us  that 
he  applied  the  rack  to  tender  women.  Syria  and  Palestine  suffered 
heavy  persecutions  in  this  reign.  Symeon,  bishop  of  Jerusalem, 
and,  like  his  predecessor  James,  a  kinsman  of  Jesus,  was  accused 
b}^  fanatical  Jews,  and  crucified  in  the  year  107,  at  the  age  of  a 
hundred  and  twenty  years.  In  the  same  year,  or  according  to 
otliers  in  115,  the  distinguished  bishop  Ignatius  of  Antioch,  a 
disciple  of  the  apostles,  was  condemned  by  Trajan  and  suffered 
martyrdom  in  Eome.' 

Hadrian  (117-138),  though  zealously  devoted  to  the  sacra 
Romana^  was  yet  mild  towards  the  Christians,  and  directed  the 
Asiatic  j)roconsul  to  check  the  popular  fury  against  them,  and 
to  punish  only  those  who  should  be,  by  an  orderly  judicial  pro- 
cess, convicted  of  transgression  of  the  laws.  Unquestionably, 
however,  he  regarded  the  mere  profession  of  Christianity  as  itself 
such  a  transgression.  The  Christian  apologies,  which  took  their 
rise  under  this  emperor,  indicate  a  very  bitter  public  sentiment 
against  the  Christians,  and  a  critical  condition  of  the  church. 

Antoninus  Pius  (138-161)  protected  the  Christians  still  more 
decidedly  from  the  tumultuous  violence  which  broke  out  against 
them  on  account  of  the  frequent  public  calamities.  But  the  edict 
ascribed  to  him,  addressed  to  the  deputies  of  the  Asiatic  cities,^ 
testifying  to  the  innocence  of  the  Christians,  and  holding  them 
up  to  the  heathens  as  models  of  fidelity  and  zeal  in  the  worship 
of  God,  could  hardly  have  come  from  an  emperor,  who  bore  the 
honorable  title  of  Pius  for  his  conscientious  adherence  to  the 
religion  of  his  fathers. 

'  Comp.  below,  §  119.  ^  Koi^oi/  nlf  'Acrias. 


166  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D,    100-311. 

§  54.  Persecutions  under  Marcus  Aurelius. 

Marc.  Aurel.  :  np6j  rnvtov  XI.  3.  The  letter  of  the  church  of  Smyrna  to  the 
Christians  of  Pontus,  in  Euseb.  :  H.  E.  IV.  15,  and  published  more  fully 
by  Usher,  1647.  The  letter  of  the  churches  of  Lyons  and  Vienne  to  the 
Christians  of  Asia  Minor,  in  Ecseb.  :  V.  1-3  and  in  Rourn,  Reliqu. 
s.,  I.  295-324.  On  the  miracle  of  the  legio  fulminatrix,  see  ,Tertull.  : 
Apolog.  5.    Euseb.  :  V.  5.     Dio  Cass.  :  Ixxi.  8. 

Marcus  Aurelius  (161-180),  though  a  well  educated,  just,  and 
noble-minded  emperor,  could  still,  as  a  Stoic  philosopher  and  a 
devotee  of  the  old  Eoman  religion  and  morality,  have  no  sym- 
pathy with  Christianity,  but  held  it  an  absurd  and  fanatical 
superstition ;  and  his  reign  was  a  stormy  time  for  the  church. 
About  the  year  170  the  apologist  Melito  wrote:  "The  race  of 
the  worshippers  of  God  in  Asia  is  now  persecuted  by  new  edicts 
as  it  never  has  been  heretofore ;  shameless,  greedy  sycophants^ 
finding  occasion  in  the  edicts,  now  plunder  the  innocent  day  and 
night."  The  empire  was  visited  at  that  time  with  a  number  of 
conflagrations,  a  destructive  flood  of  the  Tiber,  an  earthquake, 
insurrections,  and  particularly  a  pestilence,  which  spread  from 
Ethiopia  to  Gaul.  This  gave  rise  to  two  bloody  persecutions,  in 
which  government  and  people  united  against  the  enemies  of  the 
gods  and  the  supposed  authors  of  these  misfortunes.  But  at  the 
same  time  these  persecutions,  and  the  simultaneous  literary  assault 
on  Christianity  by  Cclsus  and  Lucian,  show  that  the  new  rehgion 
was  constantly  gaining  importance  in  the  empire. 

The  first  of  these  great  persecutions  took  place  in  Asia  Minor 
in  the  year  167.  One  of  its  victims  was  the  venerable  Poly  carp, 
bishop  of  Smyrna,  a  personal  disciple  and  friend  of  the  apostle 
John.  He  steadfastly  refused  before  the  proconsul  to  deny  his 
King  and  Saviour,  whom  he  had  served  six  and  eighty  years, 
and  from  whom  he  had  experienced  nothing  but  love  and  mercy; 
and  he  joyfully  went  up  to  the  stake,  and  amidst  the  flames 
praised  God  for  having  deemed  him  worthy  "to  be  numbered 
among  his  martyrs,  to  drink  of  the  cup  of  Christ's  sufferings, 
unto  the  eternal  resurrection  of  the  soul  and  the  body  in  the  in- 
corruption  of  the  Iloly  Ghost."     The  somewhat  fanciful  account 


§   54.      PERSECUTIONS   UNDER   MARCUS   AURELIUS.  167 

in  the  letter  of  the  church  of  Smyrna  states,  that  the  flames 
avoided  the  body  of  the  saint,  leaving  it  unharmed,  like  gold 
tried  in  the  fire ;  also  the  Christian  bystanders  insisted,  that  they 
perceived  a  sweet  odor,  as  of  incense.  Then  the  executioner 
thrust  his  sword  into  the  body,  and  the  stream  of  blood  at  once 
extinguished  the  flame.  The  corpse  was  burned  after  the  Roman 
custom,  but  the  bones  were  preserved  by  the  church  and  held 
more  jjrecious  than  gold  and  diamonds.  The  death  of  this  last 
witness  of  the  apostolic  age  checked  the  fury  of  the  populace,  and 
the  proconsul  suspended  the  persecution. 

Ten  years  after  this,  in  177,  the  churches  of  Lyons  and  Vienne 
in  the  south  of  France  underwent  a  trial  equally  severe.  Hea- 
then slaves  were  forced  by  the  rack  to  declare,  that  their  Chris- 
tian masters  practised  all  the  unnatural  vices  which  rumor 
charged  them  with ;  and  this  was  made  to  justify  the  exquisite 
tortures  to  which  the  Christians  were  subjected.  But  the  suf- 
ferers, "  strengthened  by  the  fountain  of  living  water  from  the 
heart  of  Christ,"  displaj^ed  extraordinary  faith  and  steadfastness, 
and  felt,  that  "nothing  can  be  fearful,  where  the  love  of  the 
Father  is,  nothing  painful,  where  shines  the  glory  of  Chi'ist." 

The  most  distinguished  victims  of  this  Gallic  persecution  were 
the  bishop  Pothinus,  who,  at  the  age  of  ninety  years,  and  just 
recovered  from  a  sickness,  was  subjected  to  all  sorts  of  abuse, 
and  then  thrown  into  a  dismal  dungeon,  where  he  died  in  two 
days ;  the  virgin  Blandina,  a  slave,  who  showed  almost  super- 
human strength  and  constancy  under  the  most  cruel  tortures, 
and  was  at  last  thrown  to  a  wild  beast  in  a  net ;  Ponticus,  a  boy 
of  fifteen  years,  who  could  be  deterred  by  no  sort  of  cruelty  from, 
confessing  his  Saviour.  The  corpses  of  the  martyrs,  which  cov- 
ered the  streets,  were  shamefully  mutilated,  then  burned,  and  the 
ashes  cast  into  the  Rhone,  lest  any  remnants  of  the  enemies  of 
the  gods  might  desecrate  the  soil.  At  last  the  people  grew 
weary  of  slaughter,  and  a  considerable  number  of  Christians  sur- 
vived. The  martyrs  of  Lyons  distinguished  themselves  by  true 
humility,  disclaiming  in  their  prison  that  title  of  honor,  as  due 
only,  they  said,  to  the  faithful  and  true  Witness,  the  First-born 


168  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D,    100-311. 

from  the  dead,  the  Prince  of  life,'  and  to  those  of  his  followers 
who  had  already  sealed  their  fidelity  to  Christ  with  their  blood. 

About  the  same  time  a  persecution  of  less  extent  appears  to 
have  visited  Autun  (Augustodunum)  near  Lyons.  Symphorinus, 
a  young  man  of  good  family,  having  refused  to  fall  down  before 
the  image  of  Cybele,  and  being  condemned  to  be  beheaded,  on 
his  way  to  the  place  of  execution  his  own  mother  called  to  him : 
"  My  son,  be  firm  and  fear  not  that  death,  which  so  surely  leads 
to  life.  Look  to  Him  who  reigns  in  heaven.  To-day  is  thy 
earthly  life  not  taken  from  thee,  but  transformed  by  a  blessed 
exchange  into  the  life  of  heaven." 

The  story  of  the  "thundering  legion '"*  rests  on  the  fact  of  a 
remarkable  deliverance  of  the  Eoman  army  in  Hungary  by  a 
sudden  shower,  which  quenched  their  burning  thirst  and  fright- 
ened their  barbarian  enemies,  A.D.  174.  The  heathens,  however, 
attributed  this  not  to  the  ])rayers  of  the  Christian  soldiers,  but  to 
their  own  gods.  The  emj)eror  himself  prayed  to  Jupiter :  "  This 
hand,  which  has  never  yet  shed  human  blood,  I  raise  to  thee." 
That  this  event  did  not  alter  his  views  respecting  the  Chris- 
tians, is  })roved  by  the-  persecution  in  South  Gaul,  which  broke 
out  three  years  later. 

Of  isolated  cases  of  martyrdom  in  this  reign,  we  notice  that  of 
Justin  Martyr,  at  Rome,  in  the  year  166.^ 

Marcus  Aurelius  was  succeeded  by  his  cruel  and  contemptible 
son,  Commodus  (180-192),  who,  however,  was  accidcntalh'  made 
to  favor  the  Christians  by  the  influence  of  a  concubine/  Marcia, 
and  accordingly  did  not  disturb  them.  Yet  under  his  reign  a 
Roman  senator,  Apollonius,  was  put  to  death  for  his  faith. 


§  55.    Condition  of  the  Church  from  Sejytimius  Severus  to  Philip 

ike  Arabian. 

Clemens  Alex.  :    Strom.  11.  414.     Tkrti-ll.  :    Ad  Scapulam,  c.  4,  5.  Apolog. 
(a.d.  108),  c.  7,  12,  30,  37,  49.     Respecting  the  Alexandrian  martyrs 

'  Rev.  i.  5.  *  Legio  fulminatrix,  Kepawofdpoi. 

'  Comp.  §  122.  *  (jiiX'JOeos  TraWaxfi. 


§   55.      FRO^iI   SEVERUS   TO   PHILIP   THE   ARABIAX.         169 

conip.  EcsEB. :  VI.  1  and  5.  The  Acts  of  the  Carthaginian  martyrs, 
which  contain  their  ipsissima  verba  from  their  diaries  in  the  prisons,  but 
bear  a  somewhat  Montanistic  stamp,  see  in  Ruinart  :  p.  90  sqq.  Lam- 
'  PRiD. :  Vita  Alex.  Severi,  c.  22,  29,  49.  On  Philip  the  Arabian  see 
EusEB. :  VI.  34,  36.     Hieron.  :  Chron.  ad  ann.  24G. 

Witli  Septimius  Severus  (193-211),  wlio  was  of  Punic  descent 
and  had  a  Syrian  wife,  a  line  of  emperors  (Caracalla,  Heliogaba- 
lus,  Alexander  Severus)  came  to  the  throne,  who  were  rather 
Oriental  than  Eoman  in  their  spirit,  and  were  therefore  far  less 
concerned  than  the  Antonines  to  maintain  the  old  state  religion. 
Yet  towards  the  close  of  the  third  century  there  was  no  lack  of 
local  persecutions ;  and  Clement  of  Alexandria  wrote  of  those 
times :  ''  Many  martyrs  are  daily  burned,  confined,  or  beheaded, 
before  our  eyes." 

In  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  (202)  Septimius  Severus, 
turned  perhaps  by  Montanistic  excesses,  enacted  a  rigid  law 
against  the  further  spread  both  of  Christianity  and  of  Judaism. 
This  occasioned  violent  persecutions  in  Egypt  and  in  North 
Africa,  and  produced  some  of  the  fairest  flowers  of  martyrdom. 

In  Alexandria,  in  consequence  of  this  law,  Leonides,  father  of 
the  renowned  Origen,  was  beheaded.  Potamiaena,  a  virgin  of 
rare  beauty  of  body  and  spirit,  was  threatened  by  beastly  passion 
with  treatment  worse  than  death,  and,  after  cruel  tortures,  slowly 
burned  with  her  mother  in  boiling  pitch.  One  of  the  execu- 
tioners, Basilides,  smitten  with  sympathy,  shielded  them  some- 
what from  abuse,  and  soon  after  their  death  embraced  Christianity, 
and  was  beheaded.  He  declared  that  Potamiaena  had  appeared 
to  him  in  the  night,  interceded  with  Christ  for  him,  and  set  uj)on 
his  head  the  martyr's  crown. 

In  Carthage  some  catechumens,  three'  young  men  and  two 
young  women,  probably  of  the  sect  of  the  Montanists,  showed 
remarkable  steadfastness  and  fidelity  in  the  dungeon  and  at  the 
place  of  execution.  Perpetua,  a  young  woman  of  noble  birth, 
resisting,  not  without  a  violent  struggle,  both  the  entreaties  of 
her  aged  heathen  father  and  the  appeal  of  her  helpless  babe  upon 
her  breast,  sacrificed  the  deep  and  tender  feelings  of  a  daughter 


170  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

and  a  mother  to  tlic  Lord  who  died  for  her.  Felicitas,  a  slave, 
■when  delivered  of  a  child  in  the  same  dungeon,  answered  the 
jailor,  who  reminded  her  of  the  still  keener  pains  of  martyrdom: 
"  Now  /  suffer,  what  I  suffer;  but  then  another  will  suffer  for 
me,  because  I  shall  suffer  for  him."  All  remaining  firm,  they 
were  cast  to  wild  beasts  at  the  next  public  festival,  having  first 
interchanged  the  parting  kiss  in  hope  of  a  speedy  reunion  in 
heaven. 

The  same  state  of  things  continued  through  the  first  years  of 
Caracalla  (211-217),  though  this  gloomy  misanthrope  passed  no 
laws  against  the  Christians. 

The  abandoned  youth,  El-Gabal,  or  Heliogabalus  (218-222), 
who  polluted  the  throne  by  the  blackest  vices  and  follies,  tole- 
rated all  religions  in  hope  of  at  last  merging  them  in  his  favorite 
Syrian  worship  of  the  sun,  with  its  abominable  excesses.  He 
himself  was  a  priest  of  the  god  of  the  sun,  and  thence  took  his 
name.^ 

His  far  more  worthy  cousin  and  successor,  Alexander  Severus 
(222-235),  was  addicted  to  a  higher  kind  of  religious  eclecticism 
and  syncretism,  a  pantheistic  hero-worship.  He  placed  the  busts 
of  Abraham  and  Christ  in  his  domestic  chapel  with  those  of 
Orpheus,  Apollonius  of  Tyana,  and  the  better  Roman  emperors, 
and  had  the  gospel  rule,  "As  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to 
you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them,"  engraven  on  the  walls  of  his  palace 
and  on  public  monuments.  His  mother,  Julia  Mammaea,  was  a 
patroness  of  Origen. 

His  assassin,  Maximus  the  Thracian  (235-238),  first  a  herds- 
man, afterwards  a  soldier,  fell  again  to  persecution  out  of  mere 
opposition  to  his  predecessor,  and  gave  free  course  to  the  popu- 
lar fury  against  the  enemies  of  the  gods,  which  was  at  that  time 
excited  anew  by  an  earthquake. 

Tlie  legendary  poesy  of  the  tenth  century  assigns  to  his  reigTi 
the  fabulous  martyrdom  of  St.  Ursula,  a  British  princess,  and  her 
company  of  eleven  thousand  (according  to  others,  ten  thousand) 

'Unless  we  slioukl  prefer  to  derive  it  from  Vj^  and  ^23    "mountain  of  God." 


§   56.     PERSECUTIONS   UNDER   DECIUS   AND   VALERIAN.    171 

virgins,  who,  on  their  return  from  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  were 
murdered  by  heathens  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cologne.  This 
incredible  number  has  probably  arisen  from  the  misinterpreta- 
tion of  an  inscription,  like  "Ursula  et  Undecimilla"  (which 
occurs  in  an  old  missal  of  the  Sorbonne),  or  "  Ursula  et  XI  M.  V.," 
i.  e.  Martyres  Yirgines,  which,  by  substituting  millia  for  martj^^res, 
was  increased  from  eleven  martyrs  to  eleven  thousand  virgins. 
Some  historians  place  the  fact,  which  seems  to  form  the  basis  of 
this  legend,  in  connexion  with  the  retreat  o&  the  Huns  after  the 
battle  of  Chalons,  451. 

Grordianus  (238-2-14)  left  the  church  undisturbed.  Philip  the 
Arabian  (244-249)  was  even  supposed  by  some  to  be  a  Christian, 
and  was  termed  by  Jerome  "primus  omnium  ex  Eomanis  impera- 
toribus  Christianus."  It  is  certain  that  Origen  wrote  letters  to 
him  and  to  his  wife,  Severa. 

This  season  of  repose,  however,  cooled  the  moral  zeal  and 
brotherly  love  of  the  Christians ;  and  the  mighty  storm  under 
the  following  reign  served  well  to  restore  the  purity  of  the 
church. 

§  56.  Persecutions  under  Decius  and  Valerian. 

DioNYS.  Alex.,  in  Euseb.  VI.  40-42.  VII.  10,  11.  Cyprian:  De  lapsis,  and 
particularly  his  Epistles  of  this  period.  On  Cyprian's  martyrdom  see  the 
Proconsular  Acts,  and  Pontius  :  Vita  Cypr. 

Decius  Trajan  (249-251),  an  earnest  and  energetic  emperor,  in 
whom  the  old  Roman  spirit  once  more  awoke,  resolved  to  root 
out  the  church  as  an  atheistic  and  seditious  sect,  and  in  the  year 
250  published  an  edict  to  all  the  governors  of  the  provinces, 
enjoining  return  to  the  pagan  state  religion  under  the  heaviest 
penalties.  This  was  the  signal  for  a  persecution  which,  in  extent, 
consistency,  and  cruelty,  exceeded  all  before  it.  In  truth  it  was 
properly  the  first  which  covered  the  whole  empire,  and  accord- 
ingly produced  a  far  greater  number  of  martyrs  than  any  former 
persecution.  In  the  execution  of  the  imperial  decree  confisca- 
tion, exile,  torture,  promises  and  threats  of  all  kinds,  were  em- 
ployed to  move  the  Christians  to  apostasy.    Multitudes  of  nominal 


172  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

Christians/  especially  at  the  beginning,  sacrificed  to  the  gods 
(sacrificati,  thurificati),  or  procured  from  the  magistrate  a  false 
certificate  that  they  had  done  so  (libellatici),  and  were  then 
excommunicated  as  apostates  (lapsi);  while  hundreds  rushed 
with  unpetuous  zeal  to  the  prisons  and  the  tribunals,  to  obtain 
the  confessor's  or  martyr's  crown.  The  confessors  of  Eome  wrote 
from  prison  to  their  brethren  of  Africa :  "  What  more  glorious 
and  blessed  lot  can  fall  to  man  by  the  grace  of  God,  than  to  con- 
fess God  the  Lord  amidst  tortures  and  in  the  face  of  death  itself; 
to  confess  Christ  the  Son  of  God  with  lacerated  body  and  with  a 
spirit  departing,  yet  free ;  and  to  become  fellow-sufferers  with 
Christ  in  the  name  of  Christ?  Though  we  have  not  yet  shed  our 
blood,  we  are  ready  to  do  so.  Pray  for  us,  then,  dear  Cyprian, 
that  the  Lord,  the  best  captain,  would  daily  strengthen  each  one 
of  us  more  and  more,  and  at  last  lead  us  to  the  field  as  faithful 
soldiers,  armed  with  those  divine  weapons^  which  can  never  be 
conquered." 

The  authorities  were  specially  severe  with  the  bishops  and  offi- 
cers of  the  churches.  Fabianus  of  Rome  perished  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  persecution.  Others  withdrew  to  places  of  conceal- 
ment ;  some  from  cowardice  ;  some  from  Christian  prudence,  in 
hope  of  allaying  by  their  absence  the  fury  of  the  pagans  against 
their  flocks,  and  of  saving  their  own  lives  for  the  good  of  the 
church  in  better  times.  Among  the  latter  was  Cyprian,  bishop  of 
Carthage,  who  incurred  much  censure  by  his  course,  but  fully 
vindicated  himself  by  his  pastoral  industry  during  his  absence, 
and  by  his  subsequent  martyrdom.  He  says  concerning  the  mat- 
ter :  "  Our  Lord  commanded  us  in  times  of  persecution  to  yield 
and  to  fly.  He  taught  this,  and  he  practised  it  himself.  For 
since  the  martyr's  crown  comes  by  the  grace  of  God,  and  cannot 
be  gained  before  the  appointed  hour,  he  who  retires  for  a  time, 
and  remains  true  to  Christ,  does  not  deny  his  faith,  but  only 
abides  his  time," 

The  poetical  legend  of  the  seven  brothers  at  Ephesus,  who  fell 
asleep  in  a  cave,  whither  they  had  fled,  and  awoke  two  hundred 

*  ''  Maximus  IValruin  uuiiktus,"  says  Cyiirian.  "  Eph.  vi.  2. 


§   56.     PERSECUTIONS   UNDER  DECIUS   AND  VALERIAN,    173 

years  afterwards,  under  Tlieodosius  II.  (-l-IT),  astonished  to  see  the 
once  despised  and  hated  cross  now  ruling  over  city  and  country, 
dates  itself  internally  from  the  time  of  Decius,  but  is  not  men- 
tioned before  Gregory  of  Tours  in  the  sixth  century. 

Under  Gallus  (251-253)  the  joersecution  received  a  fresh 
impulse  through  the  incursions  of  the  Goths,  and  the  prevalence 
of  a  pestilence,  drought,  and  famine.  Under  this  reign  the  Roman 
bishops  Cornelius  and  Lucius  were  banished,  and  then  condemned 
to  death. 

Valerian  (253-260)  was  at  first  mild  towards  the  Christians ; 
but  in  257  he  changed  his  course,  and  made  an  effort  to  check 
the  progress  of  their  religion  without  bloodshed,  by  the  banish- 
ment of  ministers  and  prominent  laymen,  the  confiscation  of  their 
property,  and  the  prohibition  of  religious  assemblies.  These 
measures,  however,  joroving  fruitless,  he  brought  the  death 
penalty  again  into  play. 

The  most  distinguished  martyrs  of  this  persecution  under 
Valerian  are  the  bishops  Sixtus  II.  of  Rome  and  Cyprian  of 
Carthage.  When  Cyprian  received  his  sentence  of  death,  repre- 
senting him  as  an  enemy  of  the  Roman  gods  and  laws,  he  calmly 
answered  :  "  Deo  gratias  !"  Then,  attended  by  a  vast  multitude 
to  the  scaffold,  he  prayed  once  more,  undressed  himself,  covered 
his  eyes,  requested  a  presbyter  to  bind  his  hands,  and  to  pay  the 
executioner,  who  tremblingly  drew  the  sword,  twenty-five  pieces 
of  gold,  and  won  the  incorruptible  crown  (Sept.  14,  258).  Ilis 
faithful  friends  caught  the  blood  in  handkerchiefs,  and  buried  the 
body  of  their  sainted  pastor  with  great  solemnity. 

The  much  lauded  martyrdom  of  the  deacon  St,  Laurentius  of 
Rome,  who  pointed  the  avaricious  magistrates  to  the  poor  and  sick 
of  the  congregation  as  the  richest  treasure  of  the  church,  and  is  said 
to  have  been  slowly  roasted  to  death  (Aug.  10,  258),  is  scarcely 
reliable  in  its  details,  being  first  mentioned  by  Ambrose,  a  century 
later,  and  then  glorified  by  the  poet  Prudentius.  A  Basilica  on 
the  Via  Tiburtina  celebrates  the  memory  of  this  saint,  who  occu- 
pies the  same  position  among  the  martyrs  of  the  church  of  Rome 
as  Stephen  among  those  of  Jerusalem, 


17-i  SECOND  TERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

Gallienus  (260-268)  gave  peace  to  the  churcli  once  more,  and 
even  acknowledged  Christianity  as  a  religio  licita.  And  this 
calm  continued  forty  years  ;  for  the  edict  of  persecution,  issued 
by  the  energetic  and  warlike  Aurelian  (270-275),  was  rendered 
void  by  his  assassination,  and  the  six  emperors  who  rapidly  fol- 
lowed, from  275  to  28-4,  let  the  Christians  alone. 


§  57.    T/ie  Diochsian  Persecution^  and  the  Edict  of  Toleration. 

Euseb.  1.  viii.-x.  Lactant.  :  De  Mortibus  persec.  c.  7  sqq.  Comp.  Burkil\rdt  : 
Die  Zeit  Constantins  des  Gr.  Bas.  1853.  p.  325  sqq. ;  and  Keim  :  Die 
romischen  Toleranzedicte  fiir  das  Christenthum  (311-313),  in  the  "Tiib. 
Theol.  Jahrb."     1852. 

This  forty  years'  repose,  which  considerably  enlarged  the  num- 
ber and  influence  of  the  Christians  indeed,  but  also  abated  their 
earnestness  and  zeal  and  favored  their  conformity  to  the  world, 
was  followed  by  the  last  and  most  violent  persecution  of  the 
Roman  empire,  a  struggle  of  life  and  death. 

Dioclesian  (28-4-305),  one  of  the  most  judicious  and  able  em- 
perors, who,  with  four  co-regents  in  a  trying  period,  preserved 
the  sinking  state  from  dissolution,  long  respected  the  toleration 
edict  of  Gallienus ;  especially  as  his  own  wife  Prisca,  his  daughter 
Valeria,  and  most  of  his  eunuchs  and  court  officers,  besides  many 
of  the  most  prominent  public  functionaries,  were  Christians,  or  at 
least  favorable  to  the  Christian  religion.  But  in  his  old  age  he 
was  prevailed  on  by  the  urgency  of  his  co-regent  and  son-in-law, 
Galerius,  a  cruel  and  fanatical  pagan,  to  authorize  the  persecu- 
tion which  gave  his  glorious  reign  a  disgraceful  end.  In  308 
and  304  he  issued  in  rapid  succession  four  edicts,  each  more 
severe  than  its  predecessor.  Christian  churches  were  to  be 
destroyed ;  all  copies  of  the  Bible  were  to  be  burned ;  all  Chris- 
tians were  to  be  deprived  of  public  office  and  civil  rights ;  and 
at  last  all,  without  exception,  were  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods  upon 
pain  of  death.  Pretext  for  this  severity  was  affi^rded  by  the 
occurrence  of  fire  twice  in  the  palace  of  Nicomedia  in  Bithynia, 
where  Dioclesian  resided,  and  by  the  tearing  down  of  the  first 


§   57.      THE   DIOCLESIAN   PEESECUTIOlSr.  175 

edict  by  an  imprudent  Christian  (celebrated  in  the  Greek  church 
under  the  name  of  John),  who  vented  in  that  way  his  abhor- 
rence of  such  "  godless  and  tyrannical  rulers."  But  the  opinion^ 
that  the  edicts  were  occasioned  by  a  conspiracy  of  the  Christians, 
who,  feeling  their  rising  power,  were  for  putting  the  government 
at  once  into  Christian  hands,  by  a  stroke  of  state,  is  without  any 
foundation  in  history. 

The  persecution  began  with  the  destruction  of  the  magnificent 
church  in  Nicomedia,  and  soon  spread  over  the  whole  Eoman 
empire,  except  Graul,  Britain,  and  Spain,  where  the  co-regent 
Constantius  Chlorus,  and  especially  his  son,  Constantine  the 
Great  (from  306),  were  disposed  as  far  as  possible  to  spare  the 
Christians.  It  raged  most  fiercely  in  the  East,  where  the  bar- 
barous Maximinus  ruled,  who  in  308  enacted  the  law,  that  all 
provisions  in  the  markets  should  be  sprinkled  with  sacrificial 
wine,  that  the  Christians  might  have  no  alternative  but  apostasy 
or  starvation.  All  the  pains,  which  iron  and  steel,  fire  and 
sword,  rack  and  cross,  wild  beasts  and  beastly  men  could  inflict, 
were  employed  to  gain  the  useless  end.  Even  the  wild  beasts, 
says  Eusebius,  at  last  refused  to  attack  the  Christians,  as  if  they 
had  assumed  the  part  of  men  in  place  of  the  heathen  Eomans. 
The  swords,  says  the  same  historian,  contemporary,  yet  not  free 
from  rhetorical  exaggeration,  at  last  became  dull  and  shattered ; 
the  executioners  became  weary,  and  had  to  relieve  each  other ; 
but  the  Christians  sang  hymns  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  in 
honor  of  Almighty  God,  even  to  their  latest  breath. 

Here  again  the  number  of  apostates,  who  preferred  the  earthly 
life  to  the  heavenly,  was  very  great.  To  these  was  now  added 
also  the  new  class  of  the  traditores,  who  delivered  the  holy  Scrip- 
tures to  the  heathen  authorities,  to  be  burned.  But  as  the  perse- 
cution raged,  the  zeal  and  fidelity  of  the  Christians  increased,  and 
martyrdom  spread  as  b}^  contagion.  Even  boys  and  girls  showed 
amazing  firmness.  In  many  the  heroism  of  faith  degenerated  to 
a  fanatical  courting  of  death ;  confessors  were  almost  worshipped, 

'  Recently  expressed  by  Burkliardt   in  the  work  quoted. 


176  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

wMle  yet  alive  ;  and  the  hatred  towards  apostates  distracted  many 
congregations,  and  produced  the  Meletiau  and  Donatist  schisms. 
The  niartyrologics  date  from  this  period  several  legends,  the 
germs  of  which,  however,  cannot  now  be  clearly  sifted  from  the 
additions  of  later  poesy.  The  story  of  the  destruction  of  the 
legio  Thebaica  is  probably  an  exaggeration  of  the  martyrdom  of 
St.  Mauritius,  who  was  executed  in  Syria,  as  tribunus  militum, 
with  seventy  soldiers,  at  the  order  of  Maximinus.  St.  Agnes, 
whose  memory  the  Latin  church  has  celebrated  ever  since  the 
fourth  century,  was,  according  to  tradition,  brought  in  chains 
before  the  judgment-seat  in  Rome,  a  girl  of  thirteen  years;  was 
publicly  exposed,  and  ujton  her  steadfast  confession  j)ut  to  the 
sword ;  but  afterwards  appeared  to  her  grieving  parents  at  her 
grave  with  a  white  lamb  and  a  host  of  shining  virgins  from 
heaven,  and  said  :  "  Mourn  me  no  longer  as  dead,  for  ye  see  that 
I  live.  Rejoice  with  me,  that  I  am  for  ever  united  in  heaven  with 
the  Saviour,  whom  on  earth  I  loved  with  all  my  heart."  Hence 
the  lamb  in  the  paintings  of  this  saint;  and  hence  the  consecration 
of  lambs  in  her  church  at  Rome  at  her  festival  (Jan.  21),  from 
whose  wool  the  pallium  of  the  archbishop  is  made.  So  Agri- 
cola  and  Vitalis  at  Bologna,  Gervasius  and  Protasius  at  Milan, 
whose  bones  were  discovered  in  the  time  of  Ambrose,  are  said 
to  have  attained  martyrdom  under  Dioclesian. 

This  persecution  was  the  last  desperate  struggle  of  Roman 
heathenism  for  its  life.  It  was  the  crisis  of  utter  extinction  or 
absolute  supremacy  for  each  of  the  two  religions.  At  the  close 
of  the  contest  the  old  Roman  state  religion  lay  dead.  Dioclesian 
retired  into  private  life  in  305,  under  the  curse  of  the  Christians; 
and  in  313,  when  all  the  achievements  of  his  reign  were  destroyed, 
he  destroyed  himself. 

Galerius,  the  real  author  of  the  persecution,  brought  to  reflec- 
tion by  a  terrible  disease,  put  an  end  to  the  slaughter  shortly 
before  his  death  by  a  remarkable  edict  of  toleration,  which  he 
issued  from  Nicomedia  in  311,  in  connexion  with  Constantino  and 
Licinius,  In  that  document  he  declared,  that  the  purpose  of 
rcclaimin":  the  Christians  from  their  wilful  innovation  and  the 


§   58.      CHRISTIAN  MARTYRDOM.  177 

inaltitude  of  tlieir  sects  to  the  laws  and  discipline  of  the  Roman 
state,  was  not  accomplished ;  and  that  he  would  now  grant  them 
permission  to  hold  their  religious  assemblies,  provided  they  dis- 
turbed not  the  order  of  the  state.  To  this  he  added  in  conclusion 
theTcmarkable  instruction  that  the  Christians,  "  after  this  manifes- 
tation of  grace,  should  pray  to  their  God  for  the  welfare  of  the  em- 
perors, of  the  state,  and  of  themselves,  that  the  state  might  prosper 
in  every  respect,  and  that  they  might  live  quietly  in  their  homes." 

This  edict  brings  the  period  of  persecution  in  the  Roman  em- 
pire to  a  close.  Maximinus,  it  is  true,  continued  in  every  way  to 
oppress  and  vex  the  church  in  the  East,  and  the  cruel  pagan 
Maxentius  did  the  same  in  Italy.  But  Constantine  had  already 
in  306  become  emperor  of  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain ;  in  312  he 
conquered  Maxentius,  and  with  Licinius,  issued  two  new  edicts; 
of  toleration  (312  and  313) ;  and  to  these  Maxentius  also,  shortly 
before  his  suicide  (313),  was  compelled  to  give  his  consent. 

"With  Constantine,  therefore,  a  new  period  begins,  in  whichi 
the  church  ascends  the  throne  of  the  Caesars,  and  gives  new 
vigor  and  lustre  to  the  hoary  empire  of  Rome. 


§  58.   Christian  Martyrdom. 

I.  Tertull.  :    Ad  martyres.     Orig.  :    Exhortatio   ad  martyrium.      Cyph.  : 

Ep.  11  ad  mart.     Prudentius:  Ilf^t  at^pdviov  hymni  XIV. 

II.  Sagittarius  :  De  mart,  cruciatibus.  1696.  H.  Dodwell  :  De  paucitate 
martyrum,  in  his  Dissertationes  Cyprianicae.  Lond.  1684;  and  the  coun- 
terpart, RuiNART  (R.  C.) :  Praefatio  generahs  in  Acta  Martyrum. 
(Chateaubriand  :  Les  martyrs  ou  le  triomphe  de  la  rel.  chret.  2  vols.,  has 
no  critical  nor  historical  value,  but  merely  poetical.)  Comp.  in  part 
Mrs.  Jameson  :  Sacred  and  Legendary  Art.     Lond.  1848.     2  vols. 

To  these  protracted  and  cruel  persecutions  the  church  opposed 
no  revolutionary  violence,  no  carnal  resistance,  but  the  moral 
heroism  of  suffering  and  dying  for  the  truth.  But  this  very 
heroism  was  her  fairest  ornament  and  stanchest  weapon.  In  this 
very  heroism  she  proved  herself  worthy  of  her  divine  founder, 
who  submitted  to  the  death  of  the  cross  for  the  salvation  of  the 
world,  and  even  prayed  that  his  murderers  might  be  forgiven. 

12 


178  SECOXD  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

The  patriotic  virtues  of  Greek  and  Eoman  antiquity  reproduced 
themselves  here  in  exalted  form,  in  self-denial  for  the  sake  of  a 
heavenly  country,  and  for  a  crown  that  fadeth  not  away.  Even 
boys  and  girls  became  heroes,  and  rushed  with  a  holy  enthusiasm 
to  death.  In  those  hard  times  men  had  to  make  earnest  of  the 
words  of  the  Lord :  "  Whosoever  doth  not  bear  his  cross  and 
come  after  me,  cannot  be  my  disciple."  "  He,  that  loveth  father 
and  mother  more  than  me,  is  not  worthy  of  me."  But  then  also 
the  j)romise  daily  proved  itself  true:  "Blessed  are  they,  who  are 
persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake ;  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  "He,  thatloseth  his  life  for  my  sake,  shall  find  it ;"  and 
that  not  only  to  the  martyrs  themselves,  who  exchanged  the 
troubled  life  of  earth  for  the  blessedness  of  heaven,  but  also  to  the 
church  as  a  whole,  which  came  forth  purer  and  stronger  from  every 
persecution,  and  thus  attested  her  indestructible  phenix-like  nature. 

Unquestionably  there  were  also  during  this  period,  especially 
after  considerable  seasons  of  quiet,  many  suj^erficial  or  hj-po- 
critical  confessors,  who,  the  moment  the  storm  of  persecution 
broke  forth,  flew  like  chaff  from  the  wheat,  and  cither  sacrificed  to 
the  gods  (thurificati,  sacrificati),  or  procured  false  witness  of  their 
return  to  paganism  (libellatici,  from  libellum),  or  gave  up  the  sacred 
books  (traditores).  Tertullian  relates  with  righteous  indignation 
that  whole  congregations,  with  the  clergy  at  the  head,  would  at 
times  resort  to  dishonorable  bribes  in  order  to  avert  the  perscu- 
tion  of  heathen  magistrates.'  But  these  were  certainly  cases  of 
rare  exception.  Generally  speaking  the  three  sorts  of  apostates 
(lapsi)  were  at  once  excommunicated,  and  in  many  churches, 
through  excessive  rigor,  were  even  refused  restoration. 

Those  who  cheerfully  confessed  Christ  before  the  heathen 
magistrate  at  the  peril  of  life,  but  were  not  executed,  were  honored 
as  confessors?  Those  who  suffered  abuse  of  all  kind  and  death, 
for  their  faith,  were  called  martyrs  or  blood-witnesses.^ 

Among  these  confessors  and  martyrs  were  not  wanting  those 

'  Defuga  in  porsec.  c.  13:   Massalitcr  totao  ccclesiae  tributum  sibi  irrogavcrunt. 
2  'OfioUyhrat,  confessores,  Matt.  x.  32,  1  Tim.  vi.  12. 
'  Miiprvpti,  Acts  xxii.  20,  lieb.  xii.  1,  Rov.  xvii.  6. 


§  58.      CHRISTIAN   MARTYEDOM.  179 

in  wliom  the  pure,  quiet  flame  of  entliusiasm  rose  into  tlic  wild 
rage  of  fanaticism,  and  whose  zeal  was  corrupted  with  impatient 
haste,  heaven-tempting  presumption,  and  sordid  ambition;  to 
whom  that  word  could  be  applied  :  "  Though  I  give  my  body 
to  be  burned,  and  have  not  charity,  it  profiteth  me  nothing." 
.They  delivered  themselves  up  to  the  heathen  of&cers,  and  in 
every  way  sought  the  martyr's  crown,  that  they  might  merit 
heaven  and  be  venerated  on  earth  as  saints.  Thus  Tertullian 
tells  of  a  company  of  Christians  in  Ephesus,  who  begged  martyr- 
dom from  the  heathen  governor,  but  after  a  few  had  been  exe- 
cuted, the  rest  were  sent  away  by  him  with  the  words :  "Miserable 
creatures,  if  you  really  wish  to  die,  you  have  precipices  and 
halters  enough."  Though  this  error  was  far  less  discreditable 
than  the  opposite  extreme  of  the  cowardly  fear  of  man,  yet  it  was 
contrary  to  the  instruction  and  the  example  of  Christ  and  the 
apostles,'  and  to  the  spirit  of  true  martyrdom,  which  consists  in 
the  perfect  union  of  humility  and  power,  and  possesses  divine 
strength  in  the  very  consciousness  of  human  weakness.^  And 
accordingly  intelligent  church  teachers  censured  this  stormy,  mor- 
bid zeal.  The  church  of  Smyrna  speaks  thus:  "We  do  not 
commend  those  who  expose  themselves ;  for  the  gospel  teaches 
not  so."  Clement  of  Alexandria  says:  "  The  Lord  himself  has 
commanded  us  to  flee  to  another  city  when  we  are  persecuted ; 
not  as  if  the  persecution  were  an  evil ;  not  as  if  we  feared  death ; 
but  that  we  may  not  lead  or  help  any  to  evil  doing."  In  Ter- 
tullian's  view  martyrdom  perfects  itself  in  divine  patience ;  and 
with  Cyprian  it  is  a  gift  of  divine  grace,  which  one  cannot  hastily 
grasp,  but  must  patiently  wait  for. 

But  after  all  due  allowance  for  such  adulteration  and  dege- 
neracy, the  martyrdom  of  the  first  three  centuries  still  remains 
one  of  the  gTandest  phenomena  of  history,  and  a  mighty  evi- 
dence of  the  indestructible,  divine  nature  of  Christianity.  Scep- 
tical writers  have  endeavored  to  diminish  its  moral  effect  by 
pointing  to  the  awful  scenes  of  the  papal  crusade  against  the 

'  Comp.  Matt.  x.  23 ;  xxiv.  15-20.    Phil.  i.  20-25.     2  Tim.  iv.  6-8.        '  1  Cor.  xii.  10. 


180  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

Albigenses  and  Waldenses,  the  Parisian  massacre  of  the  Hugue- 
nots, the  Spanish  Inquisition,  and  other  persecutions  of  more  recent 
date.  Dodwell  expressed  the  opinion,  which  has  been  recently 
confirmed  by  the  high  authority  of  the  learned  and  impartial 
Niebuhr,  that  the  Dioclesian  persecution  was  a  mere  shadow  as 
compared  with  the  persecution  of  the  Protestants  in  the  Nether-, 
lands  by  the  Duke  of  Alva  in  the  service  of  Spanish  bigotry  and 
despotism.  Gibbon  goes  even  further,  and  boldly  asserts  that 
"  the  number  of  Protestants  who  were  executed  by  the  Spaniards 
in  a  single  province  and  a  single  reign, ^  far  exceeded  that  of  the 
primitive  martyrs  in  the  space  of  three  centuries,  and  of  the 
Pioman  empire."  But  Christianity  is  no  more  responsible  for  all 
the  crimes  and  cruelties  perpetrated  in  its  name  by  unworthy  pro- 
fessors and  under  the  sanction  of  an  unholy  alliance  of  politics  and 
religion,  than  the  Bible  for  all  the  nonsense  men  have  put  into  it, 
or  God  for  the  abuse  daily  and  hourly  practised  with  his  best  gifts. 
The  want  of  particular  statements  by  contemporary  writers 
leaves  it  impossible,  however,  to  ascertain,  even  approximately, 
the  number  of  the  martyrs.  Dodwell  and  Gibbon  have  certainly 
underrated  it,  as  far  as  Eusebius,  the  popular  tradition  since 
Constantine,  and  the  legendary  poesy  of  the  middle  age,  have 
erred  the  other  way.  Origen,  it  is  true,  wrote  in  the  middle  of 
the  third  century,  that  the  number  of  the  earher  martyrs  was 
small  and  easy  to  be  coimted."  But,  in  the  first  place,  this  lan- 
guage must  be  understood  as  merely  relative,  comparing  the 
former  persecutions  with  the  more  general  ones  in  the  age  of 
Decius.  And  in  the  second  place,  it  is  even  thus  inaccurate,  and 
is  overborne  by  the  equally  valid  testimony  of  Origen's  teacher, 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  the  still  older  Irenaeus,  who  says 
expressly,'  that  the  church,  for  her  love  to  God,  "  sends  in  all 


*  According  to  Grotius  over  100,000 ;  according  to  P.  Sarpi,  tlic  R.  Cath.  historian, 
50.000. 

'  'OXiyoi  Kai  a(p6Spa  evapiO^nrot  TcOvi'iKaiTi.  Adv.  Ccls.  III.  S.  Tlic  oldcr  testimony  of  Me- 
lito  of  Sardis,  in  the  well  known  fragment  from  his  Apology  preserved  by  Eusebius  lY. 
26,  refers  merely  to  the  small  nnmbcr  o^  imperial  persecutors  before  Marcus  Aurelius. 

'  Adv.  haer.  IV.  c.  33,  §  9 :  Ecclesia  omni  in  loco  ob  eam,  quam  habet  crga  Deum 
dilectionem,  multitudincm  martyrum  in  omni  tempore  pracmittit  ad  Patrem. 


§  59.    RISE   OF   THE    WORSHIP    OF    MARTYRS   AND   RELICS.    181 

places  and  at  all  times  a  multitude  of  martyrs  to  the  Fatlier." 
Even  the  heathen  Tacitus  speaks  of  an  "ingens  multitude "  of 
Christians,  who  were  murdered  in  the  city  of  Rome  alone  during 
the  JSTeronian  persecution.  But  finall}',  the  sufierings  of  the 
church  during  this  period  are  of  course  not  to  be  measured 
merely  by  the  number  of  actual  executions,  but  by  the  far  more 
numerous  insults,  slanders,  vexations,  and  tortures,  which  the 
cruelty  of  heartless  heathens  and  barbarians  could  devise,  or  anj 
sort  of  instrument  could  inflict  on  the  human  body,  which  were 
in  a  Ijhousand  cases  worse  than  death. 

Dr.  Arnold,  who  had  no  leaning  whatever  to  superstitious  and 
idolatrous  saint- worship,  in  speaking  of  a  visit  to  the  church  of 
San  Stefano  at  Eome,  justly  remarks:  "No  doubt  many  of  the 
particular  stories  thus  painted  will  bear  no  critical  examination ; 
it  is  likely  enough,  too,  that  Gibbon  has  truly  accused  the  gene- 
ral statements  of  exaggeration.  But  this  is  a  thankless  labor. 
Divide  the  sum  total  of  the  reported  martyrs  by  twenty — b}' 
fifty,  if  you  will ;  after  all  you  have  a  number  of  persons  of  al] 
ages  and  sexes  suffering  cruel  torments  and  death  for  conscience' 
sake,  and  for  Christ's ;  and  by  their  sufferings  manifestly  with 
God's  blessing  ensuring  the  triumph  of  Christ's  gospel.  Neither 
do  I  think  that  we  consider  the  excellence  of  this  martyr  spirit 
half  enough.  I  do  not  think  that  pleasure  is  a  sin ;  but  though 
pleasure  is  not  a  sin,  yet  surely  the  contemplation  of  suffering 
for  Christ's  sake  is  a  thing  most  needful  for  us  in  our  days,  from 
whom  in  our  daily  life  suffering  seems  so  far  removed.  And  as 
God's  grace  enabled  rich  and  delicate  persons,  women  and  even 
children,  to  endure  all  extremities  of  pain  and  reproach,  in  times 
past ;  so  there  is  the  same  grace  no  less  mighty  now  ;  and  if  we 
do  not  close  ourselves  against  it,  it  might  be  in  us  no  less  glori 
fied  in  a  time  of  trial." 


§  59.  Hise  of  the  Worship  of  Martyrs  and  Relics. 

I.  In  addition  to  the  works  quoted  in  §  58,  comp.  Euseb.  :  H.  E.  IV.  15;  De  mart. 
Palaest.  c.  7.    Clem.  Alex.  :  Strom.  IV.  p.  596.     Orig.  :  Exhort,  ad  mart. 


182  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

c.  30  and  50.  In  Num.  hom.  X.  2.  Tertull.  :  De  cor.  mil.  c.  3.  De  resurr. 
earn.  c.  43.    Cypr.  :  De  lapsis,  c.  17.  Epist.  34  and  57.     Const.  Apost.  1.  8. 

n.  C.  Sagittarius  :   De  natalitiis  mart.    Jen.  1G9G.     Schwabe  :    De  insigni 
veneratione,  quae  obtinuit  erga  mar  tyres  in  primit,  eccL    Altd.  1748. 

In  thankful  remembrance  of  the  fidelity  of  this  countless  host 
of  witnesses,  in  recognition  of  the  unbroken  communion  of  saints, 
and  in  prospect  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  the  church 
paid  to  the  martyrs,  and  even  to  their  mortal  remains,  a  venera- 
tion, which  was  in  itself  well  deserved  and  altogether  natural, 
Ijut  which  early  exceeded  the  scriptural  limit,  and  afterwards 
degenerated  into  the  worship  of  saints  and  relics. 

In  the  church  of  Siliyrna,  according  to  its  letter  of  the  year 
167,  we  find  this  veneration  still  in  its  innocent,  childlike  form : 
"They  (the  heathens)  know  not,  that  we  can  neither  ever  forsake 
Christ,  who  has  suffered  for  the  salvation  of  the  whole  world  of 
the  redeemed,  nor  worship  another.  We  adore  him  (TrpoTxvvoZfcsy) 
as  the  Son  of  God ;  and  the  martyrs  we  love  as  they  deserve 
(i'/xTSfiev  «^/««),  for  their  surpassing  love  to  their  King  and  Master, 
as  we  wish  also  to  be  their  companions  and  fellow-discij)lcs." 
The  day  of  the  death  of  a  martyr  was  called  his  heavcnl}^  birth- 
day,' and  was  celebrated  annually  at  his  grave  (mostly  in  a  cave 
or  catacomb),  by  prayer,  reading  of  a  history  of  his  suffering  and 
victory,  oblations,  and  celebration  of  the  holy  supper. 

But  the  early  church  did  not  stop  with  this.  Martyrdom  was 
taken,  after  the  end  of  the  second  century,  not  only  as  a  higher 
grade  of  Christian  virtue,  but  at  the  same  time  as  a  baptism  of 
fire  and  blood,"  an  ample  substitution  for  the  baptism  of  water, 
as  purifjnng  from  sin,  and  as  securing  an  entrance  into  heaven. 
Origen  even  went  so  far  as  to  ascribe  to  the  sufferings  of  the 
martyrs  an  atoning  virtue  for  others,  an  efficacy  like  that  of  the 
sufferings  of  Christ,  on  the  authority  of  such  passages  as  2  Cor. 
xii.  15,  2  Tim.  iv.  6,  Acts  vi.  9  sq.     According  to  Tertullian  the 

'  'H//cicia  ytrtOXiof,  yo'tOXtn,  natales,  natalitia  martyrum. 

*  Lavacrum  sanguinis,  /?dTri(r/iu  Jii  rrupoj,  comp.  Matt.  xx.  22.  Luke  xii.  .50.    Mark- 
X.  39.. 


§  59.   RISE   OF   THE   WORSHIP   OF   MARTYRS   AND   RELICS.    183 

martyrs  entered  immediately  into  tlie  blessedness  of  heaven,  and 
were  not  required,  like  ordinary  Christians,  to  pass  through  the 
intermediate  state.  Thus  was  applied  the  benediction  on  those 
who  are  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake,  Matt.  v.  10-12.  Hence, 
according  to  Origen  and  Cyprian,  their  prayers  before  the  throne 
of  God  came  to  be  thought  peculiarly  efficacious  for  the  church 
militant  on  earth,  and,  according  to  an  example  related  by  Euse- 
bius,  their  future  intercessions  were  bespoken  shortly  lefore  their 
death.  Yet  we  find  in  this  period  no  trace  of  any  direct  address 
to  departed  saints. 

The  veneration  thus  shown  for  the  persons  of  the  martyrs  was 
transferred  in  smaller  measure  to  their  remains.  The  church  of 
Smyrna  counted  the  bones  of  Polycarp  more  precious  than  gold 
or  diamonds.  The  remains  of  Ignatius  were  held  in  equal  vene- 
ration by  the  Christians  at  Antioch.  The  friends  of  Cyprian 
gathered  his  blood  in  handkerchiefs,  and  built  a  chapel  over  his 
tomb. 

A  veneration  frequently  excessive  was  paid  not  only  to  the 
deceased  martyrs,  but  also  the  surviving  confessors.  It  was  made 
the  special  duty  of  the  deacons  to  visit  and  minister  to  them  in 
prison.  The  heathen  Lucian  in  his  satire,  "  De  morte  Peregrini," 
describes  the  unwearied  care  of  the  Christians  for  their  imprisoned 
brethren ;  the  heaps  of  presents  brought  to  them ;  and  the  testi- 
monies  of  sympathy  even,  by  messengers  from  great  distances ; 
but  all,  of  course,  in  Lucian's  view,  out  of  mere  good-natured 
enthusiasm.  Tertullian  the  Montanist  censures  the  excessive 
attention  of  the  Catholics  to  their  confessors.  The  libelli  pacis, 
as  they  were  called — intercessions  of  the  confessors  for  the  fallen 
— commonly  procured  restoration  to  the  fellowship  of  the  church. 
Their  voice  had  peculiar  weight  in  the  choice  of  bishops,  and 
their  sanction  not  rarely  overbalanced  the  authority  of  the  clergy. 
Cyprian  is  nowhere  more  eloquent  than  in  the  praise  of  their 
heroism.  His  letters  to  the  imprisoned  confessors  in  Carthage 
are  full  of  glorification,  in  a  style  somewhat  offensive  to  our 
evangelical  ideas.  Yet  after  all,  he  protests  against  the  abuse 
of  their  privileges,  from  which  he  had  himself  to  suffer,  and 


184  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

earnestly  exhorts  them  to  a  holy  walk;  that  the  honor  they 
have  gained  may  not  prove  a  snare  to  them,  and  through  pride 
and  carelessness  be  lost.  He  always  represents  the  crown  of  the 
confessor  and  the  martyr  as  a  free  gift  of  the  grace  of  God,  and 
sees  the  real  essence  of  it  rather  in  the  inward  disposition  than 
in  the  outward  act.  Commodian  conceived  the  whole  idea  of  mar- 
tyrdom in  its  true  breadth,  when  he  extended  it  to  all  those  who, 
without  shedding  their  blood,  endured  to  the  end  in  love,  humi- 
lity, and  patience,  and  in  all  Christian  virtue. 


CHAPTER  III. 

LITEKARY  CONTEST  OF   CHRISTIANITY  WITH  JUDAISM  AND 

HEATHENISM. 

§  60.   Oi:>][)onenis  of  Christianity.     Tacitus^  Cekus,  Lucian. 

I.  Tacitus  :    Annal.  XV.  44  (comp.  his  picture  of  the  Jews,  Hist.  V.  1-5). 

Plinius  :  Ep.  X.  96,  97.  Celsus  :  ''Axrfirii  -koyoi  (preserved  in  fragments  in 
Origen's  Refutation).  Lucian:  Ilfpt  f-/jj  XlsptyptVov  iiXivtrii^  c.  11-16; 
and  ''AXridrii  latopta,  I.  22.  30.  II.  4.  11. 

II.  Mosheim:    Introduction  to  his  Germ,  transl.  of  Origen  against  Celsus. 

Hamb.  1745.  Bindemann  :  Celsus  und  seine  Schriften  gegen  die  Christen 
(in  Illgen's  "  Zeitschr.  fiir  hist.  Theol."  Leipz.  1842.  N.  2).  Ad.  Planck  : 
Lukian  u.  das  Christenthum  (in  the  "  Studien  u,  Kritiken,"  1851.  N.  4> 
translated  in  the  "Bibliotheca  Sacra,"  Andover,  1852).  Baur:  Das 
Christenthum  der  3  ersten  Jahrh.     Tiib,  1853.  p.  357-415. 

Besides  the  external  conflict,  wliich  we  have  had  before  us  in 
the  preceding  chapter,  Christianity  was  called  to  pass  through 
an  equally  important  intellectual  and  literary  struggle  with  the 
ancient  world ;  and  from  this  also  she  came  forth  victorious,  and 
conscious  that  she  was  the  perfect  religion  for  man.  "We  shall 
see  in  this  chapter,  tKat  most  of  the  objections  of  modern  infidelity 
against  Christianity  were  anticipated  by  its  earliest  literary  oppo- 
nents, and  ably  and  successfully  refuted  by  the  ancient  apologists. 

The  church  found  as  little  favor  with  the  representatives  of 
literature  and  art  in  this  age,  as  with  princes  and  statesmen.  In 
this"  point  of  view  also  she  was  not  of  the  world,  and  was  com- 
pelled to  force  her  way  through  the  greatest  difficulties ;  yet  she 
proved  at  last  the  mother  of  an  intellectual  and  moral  culture  far 
in  advance  of  the  Graeco-Eoman,  capable  of  endless  progress,  and 
full  of  the  vigor  of  perpetual  youth. 


186  SECOND  PERIOD.    A.D.   100-311. 

The  liostility  of  the  Jewisli  Scribes  and  Pharisees  to  the  gospel 
is  familiar  from  the  New  Testament.  Josephus  mentions  Jesus 
once  in  his  Archaeology,  but  in  terms  so  favorable  as  to  agree  ill 
with  his  Jewish  position,  and  thus  to  be,  at  least  in  their  present 
formj  open  to  critical  suspicion.  The  attacks  of  the  later  Jews 
upon  Christianity  are  essentially  mere  repetitions  of  those  recorded 
in  the  gospels ;  denial  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  and  horrible 
vituperation  of  his  confessors.  We  learn  their  character  best 
from  the  diologue  of  Justin  with  the  Jew  Trypho.  The  u.\ri\oyU 
nxnia-Kov  xcci  'itia-moi,  which  has  been  once  unjustly  attributed  to  the 
Jewish-Christian  Aristo,  is  lost. 

The  Gra3CO-Eoman  writers  of  the  first  century,  and  some  of  the 
second,  as  Seneca,  the  elder  Pliny,  and  even  the  mild  and  noble 
Plutarch,  either  from  ignorance  or  contempt,  never  allude  to 
Christianity  at  all.  Tacitus  and  tlie  younger  Plin}-,  contempo- 
raries and  friends  of  the  emperor  Trajan,  are  the  first  to  notice  it; 
and  they  speak  of  it  only  incidentally  and  with  stoical  disdain 
and  antipathy  as  an  "  exitiabilis  superstitio,"  "prava  et  immodica 
superstitio,"  "  inflexibilis  obstinatio."  These  celebrated  and  in  their 
way  altogether  estimable  Roman  authors  thus,  from  manifest  igno- 
rance, saw  in  the  Christians  nothing  but  superstitious  fanatics, 
and  put  them  on  a  level  with  the  hated  Jews ;  Tacitus,  in  fact, 
reproaching  them  also  with  the  "odium  generis  humani."  This 
will  afford  some  idea  of  the  immense  obstacles  which  the  new 
religion  encountered  in  public  opinion,  especially  in  the  culti- 
vated circles  of  the  Roman  empire.  The  Christian  apologies  of 
the  second  century  also  show,  that  the  most  malicious  and  gra- 
tuitous slanders  against  the  Christians  were  circulated  among  the 
common  people,  even  charges  of  incest  and  cannibalism,'  which 
may  have  arisen  in  part  from  a  misapprehension  of  the  intimate 
brotlierly  love  of  the  Christians,  and  their  nightly  celebration  of 
the  holy  supper. 

The  direct  assault  upon  Christianity,  by  works  devoted  to  the 
purpose,  began  about  the  middle  of  the  second  centurj',  and  was 

'  OiSiJT6chiot  I'^cts,  iucc3ti  concubitus;  and  ^maTcTa  hXnta,  Tliycstese  epulis. 


§  60.  OPPONENTS  OF  CPIRISTIANITY,  TACITUS,  CELSUS,  LUCIAN.  187 

very  ably  conducted  by  a  Grecian  pliilosopher,  Celsus,  otlierwise 
unknown;  according  to  Origen,  an  Epicurean  and  a  friend  of 
Lucian. 

Celsus,  with  all  his  affected  or  real  contempt  for  the  new 
religion,  considered  it  important  enough  to  be  opposed  by  an 
extended  work  entitled  "A  True  Discourse,"  of  which  Origen 
has  preserved  considerable  fragments  in  his  Eefutation.  These 
represent  their  author  as  an  eclectic  philosopher  of  varied  culture, 
skilled  in  dialectics,  and  somewhat  read  in  the  writings  of  the 
apostles  and  even  in  the  Old  Testament.  He  speaks  now  in  the 
frivolous  style  of  an  Epicurean,  now  in  the  earnest  and  dignified  , 
tone  of  a  Platonist.  At  one  time  he  advocates  the  popular 
heathen  religion,  as,  for  instance,  its  doctrine  of  demons ;  at 
another  time  he  rises  above  the  polytheistic  notions  to  a  panthe- 
istic or  sceptical  view.  He  employs  all  the  aids  which  the  cul- 
ture of  his  age  afforded,  all  the  weapons  of  learning,  common 
sense,  wit,  sarcasm,  and  dramatic  animation  of  style,  to  disprove 
Christianity ;  and  he  anticipates  most  of  the  arguments  and 
sophisms  of  the  deists  and  natiiralists  of  later  times.  Still  his 
book  is  on  the  whole  a  very  superficial,  loose,  and  light-minded 
work,  and  gives  striking  proof  of  the  inability  of  the  natural 
reason  to  understand  the  Christian  truth.  It  has  no  savor  of 
humility,  no  sense  of  the  corruption  of  human  nature,  and  man's 
need  of  redemption ;  and  it  could  therefore  not  in  the  shghtest 
degree  appreciate  the  glory  of  the  Eedeemer  and  of  his  work. 

Celsus  first  introduces  a  Jew,  who  accuses  the  mother  of  Jesus 
of  adultery  with  a  soldier  named  Panthera;'  adduces  the  denial 
of  Peter,  the  treachery  of  Judas,  and  the  death  of  Jesus  as  con- 
tradictions of  his  pretended  divinity ;  and  makes  the  resurrection 
an  imposture.  Then  Celsus  himself  begins  the  attack,  and  begins 
it  by  combating  the  whole  idea  of  the  sujDernatural,  which  forms 
the  common  foundation  of  Judaism  and  Christianity.  The  con- 
troversy between  Jews  and  Christians  appears  to  him  as  foolish 

'  Uii-^np,  panihera,  here,  and  in  the  Tahiiud,  where  Jesus  is  hkewise  called 
til'inSS  13  'fl'i;'^   is  used,  hke  the  Latin  lupa,  as  a  type  of  ravenous  lust,  hence  as  a 

L^'mbolical  name  for  fioi^sia. 


188  SECOND   rERIOP,   A.D.   100-311. 

as  the  strife  about  the  shadow  of  an  ass.  The  Jews  believed,  as 
well  as  the  Christians,  in  the  prophecies  of  a  Redeemer  of  the 
world,  and  thus  differed  from  them  only  in  that  they  still 
expected  the  Messiah's  coming.  But  then,  to  what  purpose 
should  God  come  down  to  earth  at  all,  or  send  another  down  ? 
lie  knows  beforehand  what  is  going  on  among  men.  And  such 
a  descent  involves  a  change,  a  transition  from  the  good  to  the 
evil,  from  the  lovely  to  the  hateful,  from  the  happy  to  the  mise- 
rable ;  which  is  undesirable,  and  indeed  impossible,  for  the  divine 
nature.  In  another  place  he  says,  God  troubles  himself  no  more 
about  men,  than  about  monkeys  and  flics.  Celsus  thus  denies 
the  whole  idea  of  revelation,  now  in  ^pantheistic  style,  now  in  the 
levity  of  Epicurean  deism ;  and  thereby  at  the  same  time  aban- 
dons the  ground  of  the  popular  heathen  religion.  In  his  view 
Christianity  has  no  rational  foundation  at  all,  but  is  supported 
by  the  imaginary  terrors  of  future  punishment.  Particularly 
offensive  to  him  are  the  promises  of  the  gospel  to  the  ^^oor  and 
miserable,  and  the  doctrines  of  forgiveness  of  sins  and  regenera- 
tion,, and  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body.  This  last  he  scoffingly 
calls  a  hope  of  worms,  but  not  of  rational  souls.  The  appeal  to 
the  omnipotence  of  God,  he  thinks,  does  not  help  the  matter, 
because  God  can  do  nothing  improj^er  and  unnatural.  He 
reproaches  the  Christians  with  ignorance,  obstinacy,  agitation, 
innovation,  division,  and  sectarianism,  which  they  inherited 
mostly  from  their  fathers,  the  Jews.  They  are  all  uncultivated, 
mean,  superstitious  people,  mechanics,  slaves,  women,  and  chil- 
dren. The  great  mass  of  them  he  regarded  as  unquestionably 
deceived.  But  where  there  are  deceived,  there  must  be  also 
deceivers ;  and  this  leads  us  to  the  last  result  of  this  polemical 
sophistry.  Celsus  declared  the  first  disciples  of  Jesus  to  be 
deceivers  of  the  worst  kind ;  a  band  of  sorcerers,  who  fiibricated 
and  circulated  the  miraculous  stories  of  the  Gospels,  particularly 
that  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus ;  but  bctra3-ed  themselves  by 
contradictions.  The  originator  of  the  imposture,  however,  is 
Jesus  himself,  who  learned  that  magical  art  in  Egypt,  and  after- 
wards made  a  great  noise  with  it  in  his  native  country.     But 


§  60.  OPPONENTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY,  TACITUS,  CELSUS,  LUCIAN.  ISO 

liere,  this  pliilosopliical  and  critical  sopliistry  virtually  acknow- 
ledges its  bankruptcy.  The  hypothesis  of  deception  is  the  very 
last  one  to  offer  in  explanation  of  a  phenomenon  so  important 
as  Christianity  was  even  in  that  day.  The  greater  and  more 
permanent  the  deception,  the  more  mysterious  and  unaccountable 
it  must  appear  to  reason. 

About  the  same  period  the  rhetorician,  Lucian  (born  at  Samo- 
sata  in  Syria  in  180,  died  in  Egypt  or  Greece  about  200),_tlig^ 
Voltaire  of  Grecian  literature,  attacked  the  Christian  religion 
with  the  same  light  weajDons  of  wit  and  ridicule,  with  which,  in 
his  numerous  elegantly  written  works,  he  assailed  the  old  popular 
faith  and  worship,  the  mystic  fanaticism  imported  from  the  East, 
the  vulgar  life  of  the  Stoics  and  Cynics  of  that  day,  and  most  of 
the  existing  manners  and  customs  of  the  distracted  period  of  the 
empire.  An  Epicurean,  worldling,  and  infidel,  as  he  was,  could 
see  in  Christianity  only  one  of  the  many  vagaries  and  follies  of  , 
mankind ;  in  the  miracles,  only  jugglery ;  in  the  belief  of  immor- 
tality, an  empty  dream ;  and  in  the  contempt  of  death  and  the 
brotherly  love  of  the  Christians,  to  which  he  was  constrained  to 
testify,  a  silly  enthusiasm. 

Thus  he  represents  the  matter  in  a  historical  romance  on  the 
life  and  death  of  Peregrinus  Proteus,  a  contemporary  Cynic 
philosopher,  whom  he  makes  the  basis  of  a  satire  upon  Chris- 
tianity, and  especially  upon  Cynicism.  Peregrinus  is  here  pre- 
sented as  a  perfectly  contemptible  man,  who,  after  the  meanest 
and  grossest  crimes,  adultery,  sodomy,  and  parricide,  joins  the 
credulous  Christians  in  Palestine,  cunningly  imposes  on  them, 
soon  rises  to  the  highest  repute  among  them,  and,  becoming  one 
of  the  confessors  in  prison,  is  loaded  with  jDresents  by  them,  in 
fact  almost  worshipped  as  a  god,  but  is  afterwards  excommuni- 
cated for  eating  some  forbidden  food  (probably  meat  of  the  idola- 
trous sacrifices) ;  then  casts  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  Cynics, 
travels  about  everywhere,  in  the  filthiest  style  of  that  sect ;  and 
at  last  about  the  year  165,  in  frantic  thirst  for  fame,  plunges 
into  the  flames  of  a  funeral  pile  before  the  assembled  populace 
of  the  town  of  Olympia,  for  the  triumph  of  philosophy.    Perhaps 


190  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

tliis  fiction  of  the  self-burning  was- meant  for  a  parody  on  the 
Christian  martyrdom,  possibly  of  Polycarp,  who  about  that  time 
suffered  death  by  fire  at  Smyrna. 

Lucian  treated  the  Christians  rather  with  a  compassionate 
smile,  than  with  hatred.  He  nowhere  urges  persecution.  He 
never  calls  Christ  an  impostor,  as  Celsus  does,  but  a  "  crucified 
sophist ;"  a  term  which  he  uses  as  often  in  a  good  sense  as  in  the 
l3ad.  But  then,  in  the  end,  both  the  Christian  and  the  heathen 
religions  amount,  in  his  view,  to  imposture ;  only,  in  his  Epicu- 
rean indifierentism,  he  considers  it  not  worth  the  trouble  to  trace 
such  phenomena  to  their  ultimate  ground,  and  attempt  a  philoso- 
phical explanation. 

The  mercl}^  negative  position  of  this  clever  mocker  of  all  reli- 
gions injured  heathenism  more  than  Christianity,  but  could  not 
be  long  maintained  against  either ;  the  religious  element  is  far 
too  deeply  seated  in  the  essence  of  human  nature.  Epicureanism 
and  scepticism  made  way,  in  their  turns,  for  Platonism,  and  for 
faith  or  superstition.  Heathenism  made  a  vigorous  effort  to 
regenerate  itself,  in  order  to  hold  its  ground  against  the  steady 
advance  of  Christianity.  But  the  old  religion  itself  could  not 
help  feeling  more  and  more  the  silent  influence  of  the  new. 

§  61.  Neo- Platonism.     Porphyry  and  Hierodes. 

I.  Plotinus  :  Opera  Omnia  (ed.  Oxf.  1835.  ed  KirclihoCf,  Lips.  1S5G.  ed.  Didot, 

Par.  185G.)  PoRrnvRius ;  Kara  Xpiai-iavwi'  Xoyot,  (fragments  collected  in 
Holstein:  Dissert,  de  vita  et  scriptis  Porphyr.  Rom.  1630).  Hierocles: 
Aoyoi  i})aoX>;^Etj  rfpoj  Xpicmavovj  (fragments  in  Euseb. :  Contra  Hierocl.  lib.). 

II.  Vogt:  Neoplatonismus  u.  Christentlium.  Berl.  1836.    Ritter:  Gesch.  der 

Philos.  vol.  4th,  1834  (in  English  by  Morrison,  Oxf.  1838).  Neanper: 
Ueber  das  neunte  Buch  in  der  zweiten  Enneade  des  Plotinus.  1843 
(vid.  Neander's  Wissenschaftl.  Abhandlungen,  published  by  Jacobi, 
Berl.  1851,  p.  22  sqq.).  Kirchner  :  Die  Philosophie  des  Plotin.  Halle, 
1832.  Ullmann  :  Einflus  des  Christenthums  auf  Porphyrins  in  "  Stud. 
u.  Krit."  1854.  Baur:  Apollonius  von  Tyana  u.  Christus.  Tiib. 
1832.  John  II.  Newman:  Apollonius  Tyana;us.  Lond.  1849  (Encycl. 
MetropoL  Vol.  X.  p.  619-644). 

More  earnest  and  dignified,  but  for  this  very  reason  more  last- 
ing and  dangerous,  was  the  opposition  which  proceeded  directly 


§   61.     XEO-PLATONISM.     PORPHYRY  AND   HIEROCLES.       191 

and  indirectly  from  Neo-Platonism.  This  system  presents  the 
last  phase,  the  evening  red,  so  to  speak,  of  the  Grecian  philoso- 
phy ;  a  fruitless  effort  of  dying  heathenism  to  revive  itself  against 
the  irresistible  progress  of  Christianity  in  its  freshness  and  vigor. 
It  was  a  pantheistic  eclecticism  and  a  philosophico-religious  sj'n- 
cretism,  which  sought  to  reconcile  Platonic  and  Aristotelian 
philosophy  with  Oriental  religion  and  theosophy,  polytheism 
with  monotheism,  superstition  with  culture,  and  to  hold,  as  with 
convulsive  grasp,  the  old  popular  faith  in  a  refined  and  idealized 
form.  Some  scattered  Christian  ideas  also  were  unconsciously 
let  in  ;  Christianity  already  filled  the  atmosphere  of  the  age  too 
much,  to  be  wholly  shut  out.  As  might  be  expected,  this  com- 
pound of  philosophy  and  religion  was  an  extravagant,  fantastic, 
heterogeneous  affair,  like  its  contemporary.  Gnosticism,  which  dif- 
fered from  it  by  formally  recognising  Christianity  in  its  syncre- 
tism. ]\Iost  of  the  ISTeo-Platonists,  Jamblichus  in  particular,  were 
as  much  hierophants  and  theurgists  as  philosophers,  devoted 
themselves  to  divination  and  magic,  and  boasted  of  divine  inspi- 
rations and  visions.  Their  literature  is  not  an  original,  healthy 
natural  product,  but  an  abnormal  after-growth. 

In  a  time  of  inward  distraction  and  dissolution  the  human 
mind  hunts  up  old  and  obsolete  systems  and  notions,  or  resorts  to 
magical  and  theurgic  arts.  Superstition  follows  on  the  heels  of 
unbelief,  and  atheism  often  stands  closely  connected  with  the  fear 
of  ghosts  and  the  worship  of  demons.  The  enlightened  emperor 
Augustus  was  'troubled,  if  he  put  on  his  left  shoe  first  in  the 
morning,  instead  of  the  right ;  and  the  accomplished  elder  Pliny 
wore  amulets  as  protection  from  thunder  and  lightning.  In  their 
day  the  long  forgotten  Pythagoreanism  was  conjured  from  the 
grave  and  idealized.  Sorcerers  like  Simon  Magus,  Eljnnas, 
Alexander  of  Abonoteichos,  and  Apollonius  of  Tyana  (f  A.D.  86), 
found  great  favor  even  with  the  higher  classes,  who  laughed  at  the 
fables  of  the  gods..  Men  turned  wishfully  to  the  past,  especially 
to  the  mysterious  East,  the  land  of  primitive  wisdom  and  religion. 
The  Syrian  cultus  was  sought  out ;  and  all  sorts  of  religions,  all 
the  sense  and  all  the  nonsense  of  antiquity,  found  a  rendezvous 


V 


192  SECOND   TERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

in  Eome.  Even  a  succession  of  Eoman  emperors,  from  Septi- 
mius  Severus,  at  the  close  of  the  second  century,  to  Alexander 
Severus,  embraced  this  religious  syncretism,  which,  instead  of 
supporting  the  old  Eoman  state  religion,  helped  to  under- 
mine it. 

After  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  this  tendency  found 
philosophical  expression  and  took  a  reformatory  turn  in  Neo- 
Platonism.  The  magic  power,  which  was  thought  able  to  reani- 
mate all  these  various  elements  and  reduce  them  to  harmony,  and 
to  put  deep  meaning  into  the  old  mythology,  was  the  philosophy 
of  the  divine  Plato  ;  which  in  truth  possessed  essentially  a  mys- 
tical character,  and  was  used  also  by  learned  Jews,  like  Philo, 
and  by  Christians,  like  Origen,  in  their  idealizing  efforts  and 
their  arbitrary  allegorical  expositions  of  offensive  passages  of  the 
Bible.  In  this  view  we  may  find  among  heathen  writers  a  sort  of 
forerunner  of  the  Neo-Platonists  in  the' pious  and  noble-minded 
Platonist,  Plutarch  of  Boeotia  (f  129),  who  likewise  saw  a  deeper 
sense  in  the  myths  of  the  popular  polytheistic  faith,  and  in 
general,  in  his  comparative  biographies  and  his  admirable  moral 
treatises,  looks  at  the  fairest  and  noblest  side  of  the  Graeco-Eoman 
antiquity,  but  often  wanders  off  into  the  trackless  regions  of 
fancy. 

The  proper  founder  of  JSTeo-Platonism  was  Ammonius  Saccas, 
of  Alexandria,  who  was  born  of  Christian  parents,  but  apostatized, 
and  died  in  the  year  2-43.  Ilis  more  distinguished  pupil,  Plotinus, 
also  an  Egyptian  (j-  270),  developed  the  Nco-Pktonic  ideas  in 
systematic  form,  and  gave  them  firm  foothold  and  wide  currency, 
particularly  in  Eome,  where  he  taught  philosojihy.  The  system 
was  propagated  by  his  pupil  Porphyry  of  Tyre  (f  30-4),  who 
likewise  taught  in  Eome,  by  Jamblichus  of  Chalcis  in  Coelo-Syria 
(f  333),  and  by  Proclus  of  Constantinople  (f  485).  It  supplanted 
the  popular  religion  among  the  educated  classes  of  later  heathen- 
dom, and  held  its  ground  until  the  end  of  the  fifth  century,  when 
it  perished  of  its  own  internal  falsehood  and  contradictions. 

From  its  affinity  for  the  ideal,  the  supernatural,  and  the  mystical, 
this  system,  like  the  original  Platonism,  might  become  for  many 


§    61.      NEO-PLATONISM.      PORPHYRY   AND   niEROCLES.      193 

pliilosopliical  minds  a  bridge  to  faith ;  and  so  it  was  even  to 
Augustine,  wliom  it  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  scepticism, 
and  filled  with  a  burning  thirst  for  truth  and  wisdom.  But  it 
could  also  work  against  Christianity.  Neo-Platonism  was,  in 
fact,  a  direct  attempt  of  the  more  intelligent  and  earnest  heathen- 
ism to  rally  all  its  nobler  energies,  especially  the  forces  of  Hellenic 
philosophy  and  Oriental  mysticism,  and  to  found  a  universal 
religion,  a  pagan  counterpart  to  the  Christian.  Plotinus,  in  his 
opposition  to  Gnosticism,  assailed  also,  though  not  expressly,  the 
Christian  element  it  contained.  On  their  syncretistic  principles 
the  Neo-Platonists  could  indeed  reverence  Christ  as  a  great  sage 
and  a  hero  of  virtue,  but  not  as  the  Son  of  God.  They  ranked  the 
wise  men  of  heathendom  with  him.  The  emperor  Alexander 
Severus  gave  Orpheus  and  Apollonius  of  Tyana  a  place  in  his 
lararium  by  the  side  of  the  bust  of  Jesus ;  and  the  rhetorician, 
Philostratus,  about  the  year  230,  idealized  the  life  of  the  pagan 
magician  and  soothsayer  Apollonius,  and  made  him  out  a  reli- 
gious reformer  and  worker  of  miracles.  With  the  same  secret 
polemical  aim  Porphyry  and  Jamblichus  embellished  the  life 
of  Pythagoras,  and  set  him  forth  as  the  highest  model  of  wisdom, 
even  a  divine  being  incarnate,  a  Christ  of  heathenism. 

One  of  the  Neo-Platonists,  however,  made  also  a  direct  attack 
upon  Christianity,  and  was,  in  the  eyes  of  the  church  fathers,  its 
bitterest  and  most  dangerous  enemy.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
third  century  Porphyry  wrote  an  extended  work  against  the 
Christians,  in  fifteen  books,  which  called  forth  numerous  refuta- 
tions from  the  most  eminent  church  teachers  of  the  time,  parti- 
cularly from  Methodius  of  Tyre,  Eusebius  of  Caesarea^,  and 
Apollinaris  of  Laodicea.  In  435  all  the  copies  were  burned  by 
order  of  the  emperor,  and  we  know  the  work  now  only  from 
fragments  in  the  fathers.  According  to  these  specimens,  Pov- 
phyry  attacked  esj^ecially  the  sacred  books  of  the  Christians, 
with  more  knowledge  than  Celsus.  He  endeavored,,  with  keen 
criticism,  to  point  out  the  contradictions  between  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  New,  and  among  the  apostles  themselves;  and 
thus  to  refute  the  divinity  of  their  writings.     He  represented  the 

13 


19-4  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

propHecies  of  Daniel  as  vaticinia  post  eventum,  and  censured  the 
allegorical  interpretation  of  Origen,  by  which  transcendental 
mysteries  were  foisted  into  the  writings  of  Moses,  contrary  to 
their  clear  sense.  He  took  advantage,  above  all,  of  the  collision 
between  Paul  and  Peter  at  Antioch,'  to  reproach  the  former  with 
a  contentious  spirit,  the  latter  with  error,  and  to  infer  from  the 
whole,  that  the  doctrine  of  such  apostles  must  rest  on  lies  and 
frauds.  Even  Jesus  himself  he  charged  with  equivocation  and 
inconsistency,  on  account  of  his  conduct  in  John  vii.  8  compared 
with  verse  1-i. 

Still  Porphyry  would  not  wholly  reject  Christianity.  Like 
ma,ny  rationalists  of  more  recent  times,  he  distinguished  the 
original  pure  doctrine  of  Jesus  from  the  second-handed,  adulte- 
rated doctrine  of  the  apostles.  In  another  work''  he  says,  we 
must  not  calumniate  Christ,  but  only  pity  those  who  worship 
him  as  God.  "That  pious  soul,  exalted  to  heaven,  is  become, 
by  a  sort  of  fate,  an  occasion  of  delusion  to  those  souls  from 
whom  fortune  withholds  the  gifts  of  the  gods  and  the  knowledge 
of  the  eternal  Zeus."  Still  more  remarkable  in  this  view  is  a 
letter  to  his  wife  Marcella,  which  A.  Mai  published  at  Milan  in 
1816,  in  the  unfounded  opinion  that  Marcella  was  a  Christian. 
In  the  course  of  this  letter  Porphyry  remarks,  tliat  what  is  born 
of  the  flesh  is  flesh ;  that  by  faith,  love,  and  hope  we  raise  our- 
selves to  the  Deity ;  that  evil  is  the  fault  of  man ;  that  God  is 
holy ;  that  the  most  acceptable  sacrifice  to  him  is  a  pure  heart ; 
that  the  wise  man  is  at  once  a  temple  of  God  and  a  priest  in  that 
temple.  For  these  and  other  such  evidently  Christian  ideas  and 
phrases  he  no  doubt  had  a  sense  of  his  own,  which  materially 
differed  from  their  proper  scriptural  meaning.  But  such  things 
fhow  how  Christianity  in  that  day  exerted,  even  upon  its  oppo- 
nents, a  power,  to  wliich  heathenism  was  forced  to  yield  an 
unwilling  assent. 

The  last  literary  antagonist  of  Christianity  in  our  period  is 
Ilierocles,  who,  while  governor  of  Bithynia  and  afterwards  of 
Alexandria  under  Dioclesian,  persecuted  that  religion  also  with 

'  Gal.  ii.  11  sqq.  '  Jlcpl  t/Jj  «  Xoyicji/  ^iXoo-o^i'uf. 


§    02.      SUMMARY   OF   THE   OBJECTIONS   TO    CHRISTIANITY.    195 

the  sword,  and  exposed  Christian  maidens  to  a  worse  fate  than 
death.  His  "  Truth-loving  Words  to  the  Christians"  has  been 
destroyed,  like  Porphyry's  work,  by  the  mistaken  zeal  of  the 
later  emperors,  and  is  known  to  us  only  through  the  answer  of 
Eusebius  of  Caesarea.  It  appears  to  have  merely  repeated  the 
objections  of  Celsus  and  Porphyry,  and  to  have  drawn  a 
comparison  between  Christ  and  Apollonius  of  Tyana,  which 
resulted  in  favor  of  the  latter.  The  Christians,  says  he,  consider 
Jesus  a  God,  on  account  of  some  insignificant  miracles  falsely 
colored  up  by  his  apostles ;  but  the  heathens  far  more  justly 
declare  the  greater  wonder-worker  Apollonius,  as  well  as  an 
Aristeas  and  a  Pythagoras,  simply  a  favorite  of  the  gods  and  a 
benefactor  of  men. 

§  62.   Summary  of  the  Objections  to  Christianity. 

In  general  the  leading  arguments  of  the  Judaism  and  hea- 
thenism of  this  period  against  the  new  religion  are  the  following : 

1.  Against  Christ :  his  illegitimate  birth ;  his  association  with 
poor,  unlettered  fishermen,  and  rude  publicans;  his  form  of  a 
servant,  and  his  ignominious  death.  But  the  opposition  to  him 
gradually  ceased.  While  Celsus  called  him  a  downright  impos- 
tor, the  Syncretists  and  Neo-Platonists  were  disposed  to  regard 
him  as  at  least  a  distinguished  sage. 

2.  Against  Christianity :  its  novelty ;  its  barbarian  origin ;  its 
want  of  a  national  basis ;  the  alleged  absurdity  of  some  of  its  facts 
and  doctrines,  particularly  of  regeneration  and  the  resurrection ; 
contradictions  between  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  among  the 
gospels,  and  between  Paul  and  Peter ;  the  demand  for  a  blind, 
irrational  faith. 

3.  Against  the  Christians :  atheism,  or  hatred  of  the  gods ;  the 
worship  of  a  crucified  malefactor ;  poverty,  and  want  of  culture 
and  standing ;  desire  of  innovation ;  division  and  sectarianism ; 
want  of  patriotism ;  gloomy  seriousness ;  superstition  and  fana- 
ticism ;  and  sometimes  even  unnatural  crimes,  like  those  related 
in  the  pagan  mythology,  of  Oedipus  and  his  mother  Jocaste 
(concubitus  Oedipodei),  and   of  Thyestes  and  Atreus   (epulae 


196  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-811. 

Thyesteae).  Perhaps  some  Gnostic  sects  ran  into  scandalous 
excesses  ;  but  as  against  the  Christians  in  general  this  last  charge 
was  so  clearly  unfounded,  that  it  is  not  noticed  even  by  Celsus 
and  Lucian.  The  senseless  accusation,  that  they  worshipped  an 
ass's  head,  may  have  arisen,  as  Tertullian  already  intimates,* 
from  a  story  of  Tacitus,  respecting  some  Jews,  who  were  once 
directed  by  a  wild  ass  to  fresh  water,  and  thus  relieved  from  the 
torture  of  thirst ;  and  it  is  worth  mentioning,  only  to  show  how 
passionate  and  blind  was  the  opposition  with  which  Christianity 
in  this  period  of  persecution  had  to  contend, 

§  63.  The  Christian  Ajpologeiic  Literature. 

I.  The  sources  are  all  the  writings  of  the  Apologists  of  the  second  and  third 

centuries ;  particularly  Justin  M.  :  Apologia  I.  and  II. ;  Tertcll.  :  Apo- 
logeticus;  Minucics  Felix:  Octavius;  Origen:  Contra  Celsum  (xara 
KtMov)  libr.  VIII.  Complete  editions  of  the  Apologists :  Apologg.  Christ. 
0pp.  ed.  Prud.  Maranus,  Par.  1742  ;  Corpus  Apologetarum  Christianorum 
saeculi  secundi,  ed.  Otto,  Lips.  1847  sqq.  (not  yet  finished). 

II.  Fabricius  :  Delectus  argumentorum  et  syllabus  scriptorum,  qui  veritatem 

rel.  Christ,  asseruerunt.  Hamb.  1725.  Tzscuirner:  Geschichte  der 
Apologetik.  Lpz.  1805  (unfinished).  Gr.  H.  van  Saxden:  Gesch.  der 
Apol.  1831,  translated  from  Dutch  into  German  by  Quack  and  Binder, 
Stuttg.  184G.  2  vols.  Semisch  :  Justin  der  Miirt.  Bresl.  1840.  II.  56- 
225.  W.  B.  CoLTON :  The  Evidences  of  Christianity  as  exhibited  in  the 
writings  of  its  Apologists  down  to  Augustine  (Hulseau  Prize  Essay,  1852), 
republ.  at  Boston,  1854.  (Comp.  also  "Woodiiam's  Introduction  to  Ter- 
tull.'s  Apologeticus,  and  Kate's  illustrations  from  the  works  of  Justin, 
Tertulhan,  and  Clemens,  in  his  monographs  on  these  fathers.) 

These  assaults  of  argument  and  calumny  called  forth  in  the 
second  century  the  Christian  apologetic  literature,  the  vindica- 
tion of  Christianity  by  the  pen  against  the  Jewish  zealot,  the 
Grecian  philosopher,  and  the  Koman  statesman.  The  Christians 
were  indeed  from  the  first  "  ready  always  to  give  an  answer  to 
every  man  that  asked  them  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  was  in 
them."  But  when  heathenism  took  the  field  against  them  not 
only  with  fire  and  sword,  but  with  argument  and  slander  besides, 

'  Apol.  c.  IG:  Soimiiastis  caput  asininum  esse  deum  uostruui.  llauc  Corueliua 
Tacitus  su.spicioiicni  ejusiiiodi  dei  iuseruit,  &f. 


§    63.      THE   CHRISTIAN  APOLOGETIC   LITERATURE.         197 

tliey  had  to  add  to  their  simple  practical  testimony  a  theoretical 
self-defence.  The  Christian  apology  against  non-Christian  oppo- 
nents, and  the  controversial  efforts  against  Christian  errorists, 
are  the  two  oldest  branches  of  theological  science. 

The  apologetic  literature  began  to  appear  under  the  reign  of 
Hadrian,  and  continued  to  grow  till  the  end  of  our  period.  Most 
of  the  church  teachers  took  j^art  in  this  labor  of  their  day.  The 
first  apologies,  by  Quadratus,  Aristides,  and  Aristo,  addressed  to 
the  emperor  Hadrian,  and  the  later  works  of  Melito  of  Sardis, 
Claudius  Apollinaris  of  Hierapolis,  and  Miltiades,  who  lived 
under  Marcus  Aurelius,  are  either  entirely  lost,  or  preserved  only 
in  fragments.  But  the  valuable  apologetical  works  of  the  Greek 
philosopher  and  martyr,  Justin  (f  166),  we  possess.  After  him 
come,  in  the  Grreek  church,  Tatian,  Athenagoras,  Theophilus  of 
Antioch,  and  Hermias  in  the  last  half  of  the  second  century,  and 
Origen,  the  ablest  of  all,  in  the  first  half  of  the  third.  The  most 
important  Latin  apologists  are  Tertullian  (f  about  220),  Minucius 
Felix  (f  between  220  and  230;  according  to  some,  between  161 
and  180),  and  the  later  Arnobius  ;  all  of  North  Africa. 

Here  at  once  appears  the  characteristic  difference  between  the 
Greek  and  the  Latin  minds.  The  Greek  apologies  are  more 
learned  and  philosophical,  the  Latin  more  practical  and  juridical 
in  their  matter  and  style.  The  former  labor  to  prove  the  truth 
of  Christianity  and  its  adaptedness  to  the  intellectual  wants  of 
man;  the  latter  plead  for  its  legal  right  to  exist,  and  exhibit 
mainly  its  moral  excellency  and  salutary  efiect  upon  society. 
The  Latin  also  are  in  general  more  rigidly  opposed  to  heathen- 
ism, while  the  Greek  recognise  in  the  Gi'ecian  philosophy  a 
certain  affinity  to  the  Christian  rehgion. 

The  apologies  were  addressed  in  some  cases  to  the  emperors 
(Hadrian,  Antoninus  Pius,  Marcus  Aurelius)  and  the  provincial 
governors;  in  others,  to  the  intelligent  public.  Their  first  object 
was  to  soften  the  temper  of  the  authorities  and  people  towards 
Christianity  and  its  professors  by  refuting  the  false  charges 
against  them.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  they  ever  reached 
the  hands  of  the  emperors;  at  all  events  the  persecution  con- 


198  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

tinned.'  Conversion  commonly  proceeds  from  the  heart  and 
■will,  not  from  the  nnderstanding  and  from  knowledge.  No 
doubt,  however,  these  writings  contributed  to  dissipate  pre- 
judice among  honest  and  susceptible  heathens,  to  spread  more 
favorable  views  of  the  new  religion,  and  to  infuse  a  spirit  of  hu- 
manity into  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the  systems  of  moral  philoso- 
phy and  the  legislation  of  the  Antonines. 

Yet  the  chief  service  of  this  literature  was,  to  strengthen  belie- 
vers and  advance  theological  knowledge.  It  brought  the  church 
to  a  deeper  and  clearer  sense  of  the  pecuHar  nature  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  prepared  her  thenceforth  to  vindicate  it  before 
the  tribunal  of  reason  and  philosophy ;  whilst  Judaism  and 
heathenism  proved  themselves  powerless  in  the  combat,  and  were 
driven  to  the  weapons  of  falsehood  and  vituperation.  The 
sophisms  and  mockeries  of  a  Celsus  and  a  Lucian  have  none  but 
a  historical  interest ;  the  apologies  of  Justin  and  the  Apologeticus 
of  Tertullian,  rich  with  indestructible  truth  and  glowing  piety, 
are  read  with  pleasure  and  edification  to  this  day. 

The  apologists  do  not  confine  themselves  to  the  defensive,  but 
carry  the  war  aggressively  into  the  territory  of  Judaism  and 
heathenism.  They  complete  their  work  by  positively  demon- 
strating that  Christianity  is  the  divine  religion,  and  the  only  true 
religion  for  all  mankind. 

§  6-1.  The  Argument  against  Judaism. 

In  regard  to  the  controversy  with  Judaism,  we  have  two  prin- 
ci]iHl  sources:  the.  Dialogue  of  Justin  Martyr  with  the  Jew 
Trypho,"  based,  it  appears,  on  real  interviews  of  Justin  with 
Trypho ;  and  Tertullian's  work  against  the  Jews.' 

1.  The  defensive  apology  answered  the  Jewish  objections 
thus : 

(a)  Against  the  charge,  that  Christianity  is  an  apostasy  from 

'  Oro3ius,  however,  relates  in  his  Hist.  vii.  14,  that  Justiu  M.,  by  his  Apology, 
mnde  the  emperor  Antoninus  Pius  "benignuni  crga  Christianos." 

^iiWnyni  Trp6(  Tpi^toi'a  'lovJoioi'. 

°  Advcrsus  Judacos.     Also  Cyprian's  Te?tinionia  adv.  Judaeos. 


§    64.      THE   ARGUMENT   AGAINST   JUDAISM.  199 

tlie  Mosaic  law,  it  was  held,  that  the  Mosaic  law  was  onl}-  a  tem- 
porary institution  for  the  Jewish  nation,  and  the  Old  Testament 
itself  points  to  its  own  dissolution  and  the  establishment  of  a 
new  covenant;'  that  Abraham  was  justified  before  he  was  cir- 
cumcised, and  women,  who  could  not  be  circumcised,  were  yet 
saved. 

(b)  Against  the  assertion,  that  the  servant-form  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  and  his  death  by  the  cross,  contradicted  the  Old  Testa- 
ment idea  of  the  Messiah,  it  was  urged,  that  the  appearance  of 
the  Messiah  is  to  be  regarded  as  twofold,  iirst,  in  the  form  of  a 
servant,  afterwards  in  glorj^ ;  and  that  the  brazen  serpent  in  the 
wilderness,  and  the  projDhecies  of  David  in  Psalm  xxii.,  and  of 
Isaiah  in  ch.  liii.,  themselves  point  to  the  sufferings  of  Christ  as 
his  way  to  glory. 

(c)  To  the  objection,  that  the  divinity  of  Jesus  contradicts  the 
unity  of  God  and  is  blasphemy,  it  was  replied,  that  the  Chris- 
tians believe  likewise  in  only  one  God;  that  the  Old  Testament 
itself  makes  a  distinction  in  the  divine  nature ;  that  the  plural 
expression:  "Let  us  make  man, "^  the  appearance  of  the  three 
men  at  Mamre,'  of  whom  one  was  confessedly  God,*  yet  distinct 
from  the  Creator,^  indicate  this ;  and  that  all  theophanies  (which 
in  Justin's  view  are  all  christophanies),  and  the  Messianic  Psalms," 
which  ascribe  divine  dignity  to  the  Messiah,  show  the  same. 

2.  The  aggressive  apology  or  polemic  theology  urges  as  evi- 
dence against  Judaism: 

(a)  First  and  mainly  that  the  prophecies  and  types  of  the  Old 
Testament  are  fulfilled  in  Jesus  Christ  and  his  church.  Justin 
finds  all  the  outlines  of  the  gospel  history  predicted  in  the  Old 
Testament ;  the  Davidic  descent  of  Jesus,  for  example,  in  Is,  xi. 
1 :  the  birth  from  a  virgin  in  vii.  1-4 ;  the  birth  at  Bethlehem 
in  Micah  v.  1 ;  the  flight  into  Egj'pt  in  Hosea  xi.  1  (rather  than 
Ps.  xxii.  10?);  the  appearance  of  the  Baptist  in  Is.  xl.  1-17; 
Mai.  iv.  5 ;  the  heavenly  voice  at  the  baptism  of  Jesus  in  Ps.  ii.  7  ; 

*  Is.  li.  4  sq.  Iv.  3  sqq.  Jer.  xxxi.  31  sqq.  *  Gen.  i.  26,  comp.  iii.  22. 

3  Gen.  xviii.  1  sqq.  *  xxi.  12.  s  ^ix.  24. 

8  Ps.  ex.  1  sqq.  xlv.  7  sqq.  Ixxh.  2-19,  and  others. 


200  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

the  temptation  in  the  wilderness  under  the  type  of  Jacob's  wres- 
tling in  Gen.  xxxii.  24  sqq. ;  the  miracles  of  our  Lord  in  Is. 
XXXV.  5 ;  his  sufferings  and  the  several  circumstances  of  his 
crucifixion  in  Is.  liii.  and  Ps.  xxii.  In  this  effort,  however,  Justin 
wanders  also,  according  to  the  taste  of  his  uncritical  age,  into 
arbitrary  fancies  and  allegorical  conceits ;  as  when  he  makes  the 
two  goats,  of  which  one  carried  away  the  sms  into  the  wilderness, 
and  the  other  was  sacrificed,  types  of  the  first  and  second  advents 
of  Christ ;  and  sees  in  the  twelve  bells  on  the  robe  of  the  high 
priest  a  type  of  the  twelve  apostles,  whose  sound  goes  forth  into 
all  the  world.  ^ 

(b)  The  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  in  which  Judaism,  accord- 
ing to  the  express  prediction  of  Jesus,  was  condemned  by  God 
himself,  and  Christianity  was  gloriously  vindicated. 

§  65.  The  Defence  against  Heathenism. 

1.  The  various  objections  and  accusations  of  the  heathens, 
which  we  have  collected  in  §  62,  were  founded  for  the  most  part 
on  ignorance  or  hatred,  and  in  many  cases  contradicted  them- 
selves ;  so  that  we  need  to  notice  here  but  a  few. 

(a)  The  attack  upon  the  miraculous  in  the  evangelical  history 
the  apologists  could  meet  by  pointing  to  the  similar  element  in  the 
heathen  mythology;  of  course  proposing  this  merely  in  the  way 
of  argumentum  ad  hominem,  to  deprive  the  opposition  of  the  right 
to  object.  For  the  credibility  of  the  miraculous  accounts  in  the 
gospels,  particularly  that  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  Origen 
appealed  to  the  integrity  and  piety  of  the  narrators,  to  the  pub- 
licity of  the  death  of  Jesus,  and  to  the  effects  of  that  event. 

(b)  The  novelty  and  late  appearance  of  Christianity  were  justi- 
fied by  the  need  of  historical  preparation  in  which  the  human 
race  should  be  divinely  trained  for  Christ ;  but  more  frequently 
it  was  urged  also,  that  Christianity  existed  in  the  counsel  of  God 
from  eternity,  and  had  its  unconscious  votaries,  especially  among 
the  pious  Jews,  long  before  tlic  advent  of  Christ.     By  claiming 


'  Ps.  xix.  4,  comp.  Rom.  x.  18. 


§   65.      THE   DEFENCE   AGAINST  HEATHENISM.  201 

tlie  Mosaic  records,  tlie  apologists  liad  greatly  tlie  advantage  as 
regards  antiquity  over  any  form  of  paganism,  and  could  carry 
their  religion,  in  its  preparatory  state,  even  beyond  the  flood  and 
up  to  the  very  gates  of  paradise.  Justin  and  Tatian  make  great 
account  of  the  fact  that  Moses  is  much  older  than  the  Greek  phi- 
losophers, poets,  and  legislators.  Athenagoras  turns  the  tables, 
and  shows  that  the  very  names  of  the  heathen  gods  are  modern, 
and  their  statues  creations  of  yesterday.  Clement  of  Alexandria 
calls  the  Greek  philosophers  thieves  and  robbers,  because  they 
stole  certain  portions  of  truth  from  the  Hebrew  prophets  and 
adulterated  them.  Tertullian,  Minucius  Felix,  and  others  raise 
the  same  charge  of  plagiarism. 

(c)  The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  so  peculiarly 
offensive  to  the  heathen  and  Gnostic  understanding,  was  supported, 
as  to  its  possibility,  by  reference  to  the  omnipotence  of  God,  and 
to  the  creation  of  the  world  and  of  man  ;  and  its  proj^riety  and 
reasonableness  were  argued  from  the  divine  image  in  man,  from 
the  high  destiny  of  the  body  to  be  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  from  its  intimate  connexion  with  the  soul,  as  well  as  from 
the  righteousness  and  goodness  of  God.  The  argument  from  ana- 
logy was  also  very  generally  used,  but  often  without  proper  dis- 
crimination. Thus,  Theophilus  alludes  to  the  decline  and  return  of 
the  seasons,  the  alternations  of  day  and  night,  the  renewal  of  the 
waning  and  waxing  moon,  the  growth  of  seeds  and  fruits.  Ter- 
tullian expresses  his  surprise,  that  anybody  should  deny  the  pos- 
sibility and  probability  of  the  resurrection  in  view  of  the  mystery 
of  our  birth  and  the  daily  occurrences  of  surrounding  nature. 
"  All  things,"  he  says,  "  are  preserved  by  dissolution,  renewed 
by  perishing ;  and  shall  man  ....  the  lord  of  all  this  universe  of 
creatures,  which  die  and  rise  again,  himself  die  only  to  perish  for 
ever  ?"^ 

(d)  The  charge  of  immoral  conduct  and  secret  vice  the  apolo- 
gists might  repel  with  just  indignation,  since  the  New  Testament 

'  Apolog.  c.  xliii.  Comp.  his  special  tract  De  resurredione  carnis,  c.  12,  where 
he  defends  the  doctrine  more  fully  against  the  Gnostics  and  tlieir  radical  misconcep- 
tion of  the  nature  and  import  of  the  body. 


202  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D,   100-311. 

contains  tlie  purest  and  noblest  morality,  and  the  general  conduct 
of  the  Christians  compared  most  favorably  with  that  of  the 
heathens.  "Shame!  shame!"  they  justly  cried;  "  to  roll  upon 
the  innocent  what  you  are  openly  guilty  of,  and  what  belongs  to 
you  and  your  gods !"  Origen  says  in  the  preface  to  the  first 
book  against  Celsus :  "  When  false  witness  was  brought  against 
our  blessed  Saviour,  the  spotless  Jesus,  he  held  his  peace,  and 
when  he  was  accused,  returned  no  answer,  being  fully  persuaded 
that  the  tenor  of  his  life  and  conversation  among  the  Jews  was 
the  best  apology  that  could  possibly  be  made  in  his  behalf  .... 
And  even  now  he  preserves  the  same  silence,  and  makes  no 
other  answer  than  the  unblemished  lives  of  his  sincere  followers ; 
they  are  his  most  cheerful  and  successful  advocates,  and  have  so 
loud  a  voice,  that  they  drown  the  clamors  of  the  most  zealous  and 
bigoted  adversaries." 

2.  To  their  defence  the  Christians,  with  the  rising  consciousness 
of  victory,  added  direct  arguments  against  heathenism,  which  were 
practically  sustained  by  its  dissolution  in  the  following  period. 

(a)  The  popular  religion  of  the  heathens,  particularly  the  doc- 
trine of  the  gods,  is  unworthy,  contradictory,  absurd,  immoral,  and 
pernicious.  The  apologists  and  most  of  the  early  church  teachers 
looked  upon  the  heathen  gods  not  as  mere  imaginations  or  per- 
sonified powers  of  nature,  and  deifications  of  distinguished  men, 
but  as  demons  or  fallen  angels.  They  took  this  view  from  the 
Septuagint  version  of  Ps.  xcvi.  5,^  and  from  the  immorality  of 
those  deities,  which  was  charged  to  demons  (even  sexual  intercourse 
with  fair  daughters  of  men,  according  to  Gen.  vi.  2).  "  What 
sad  fates,"  says  Minucius  Felix,  "  what  lies,  ridiculous  things, 
and  weaknesses  we  read  of  the  pretended  gods!  Even  their 
form,  how  pitiable  it  is  !  Vulcan  limps ;  Mercury  has  wings  to 
his  feet ;  Pan  is  hoofed  ;  Saturn  in  fetters  ;  and  Janus  has  two 

faces,  as  if  he  walked  backwards Sometimes  Hercules  is  a 

hostler,  Apollo  a  cowherd,  and  Neptune,  Laomedon's  mason, 
cheated  of  his  wages.     There  we  have  the  thunder  of  Jove  and 


§    65.      THE   DEFENCE   AGAINST   HEATHENISM.  203 

the  arms  of  Aeneas  forged  on  the  same  anvil  (as  if  tlie  lieavens 
and  the  thunder  and  Hghtning  did  not  exist  before  Jove  was  born 
in  Crete) ;  the  adultery  of  Mars  and  Yenus ;  the  lewdness  of  Jupiter 
with  Ganymede,  all  of  which  were  invented  for  the  gods  to  author- 
ize men  in  their  wickedness."  "Which  of  the  poets,"  asks  Ter- 
tullian,  "  does  not  calumniate  your  gods?  One  sets  Apollo  to 
keep  sheep  ;  another  hires  out  Neptune  to  build  a  wall ;  Pindar 
declares  JEsculapius  was  deservedly  scathed  for  his  avarice  in 
exercising  the  art  of  medicine  to  a  bad  purpose  ;  whilst  the  wri- 
ters of  tragedy  and  comedy  alike,  take  for  their  subjects  the  crimes 
or  the  miseries  of  the  deities.  Nor  are  the  philosophers  behind- 
hand in  this  respect.  Out  of  pure  contempt,  they  would  swear 
by  an  oak,  a  goat,  a  dog.  Diogenes  turned  Hercules  into  ridi- 
cule ;  and  the  Eoman  Cynic  Varro  introduces  three  hundred  Joves 
without  heads."  From  the  stage  abuses  the  sarcastic  African  father 
selects,  partly  from  his  own  former  observation,  those  of  Diana 
being  flogged,  the  reading  of  Jupiter's  will  after  his  decease,  and 
the  three  half  starved  Herculeses !  Justin  brings  up  the  infanticide 
of  Saturn,  the  parricide,  the  anger,  and  the  adultery  of  Jupiter, 
the  drunkenness  of  Bacchus,  the  vohiptuousness  of  Yenus,  and 
appeals  to  the  judgment  of  the  better  heathens,  who  were  ashamed 
of  these  scandalous  histories  of  the  gods ;  to  Plato,  for  example, 
who  for  this  reason  banishes  Homer  from  his  ideal  State.  Those 
myths,  which  had  some  resemblance  to  the  Old  Testament  pro- 
phecies or  the  gospel  history,  Justin  regards  as  caricatures  of  the 
truth,  framed  by  demons  by  abuse  of  Scripture.  The  story 
of  Bacchus,  for  instance,  rests,  in  his  fanciful  view,  on  Gen.  xlix. 
10  sq. ;  the  myth  of  the  birth  of  Perseus  from  a  virgin,  on  Is. 
vii.  14 ;  that  of  the  wandering  of  Hercules,  on  Ps.  xix.  6 ;  the 
fiction  of  the  miracles  of  iEsculapius  on  Is,  xxxv.  1  sqq.  Ori- 
gen  asks  Celsus,  why  it  is  that  he  can  discover  profound  mys- 
teries in  those  strange  and  senseless  accidents,  which  have 
befallen  his  gods  and  goddesses,  showing  them  to  be  polluted  with 
crimes  and  doing  many  shameful  things  ;  whilst  Moses,  who  says 
nothing  derogatory  to  the  character  of  God,  angel,  or  man,  is 
treated  as  an  impostor.      He  challenges  any  one  to  compare 


204  SECOND   TERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

Moses  and  his  la^YS  with  the  best  Greek  writers ;  and  yet  Moses 
was  as  fiir  inferior  to  Christ,  as  he  was  superior  to  the  greatest 
of  heathen  sages  and  legislators. 

(b)  The  Greek  philosophy,  which  rises  above  the  popular 
belief,  is  not  suited  to  the  masses,  cannot  meet  the  religious 
wants,  and  confutes  itself  by  its  manifold  contradictions.  Socrates, 
the  wisest  of  all  the  philosophers,  himself  acknowledged  that  he 
knew  nothing.  On  divine  and  human  things  Justin  finds  the 
philosophers  at  variance  among  themselves  ;  with  Thales  water 
is  the  ultimate  principle  of  all  things ;  with  Anaximander,  air ; 
with  Ileraclitus,  fire;  with  Pythagoras,  number.  Even  Plato 
not  seldom  contradicts  himself;  now  supposing  three  fundamental 
causes  (God,  matter,  and  ideas),  now  four  (adding  the  world-soul) ; 
now  he  considers  matter  as  unbegotten,  now  as  begotten;  at 
one  time  he  ascribes  substantiality  to  ideas,  at  another  makes 
them  mere  forms  of  thought,  &c.  Who,  then,  he  concludes, 
would  intrust  to  the  philosophers  the  salvation  of  his  soul  ? 

(c)  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Greek  apologists  recognised  also 
elements  of  truth  in  the  Hellenic  literature,  especially  in  the 
Platonic  and  Stoic  philosophy,  and  saw  in  them,  as  in  the  law 
and  the  prophecies  of  Judaism,  a  preparation  of  the  way  for  Chris- 
tianity. Justin  attributes  all  the  good  in  heathenism  to  the 
divine  Logos,  who,  even  before  his  incarnation,  scattered  the 
seeds  of  truth,  and  incited  susceptible  spirits  to  a  holy  walk. 
Thus  there  were  Christians  before  Christianity  ;  and  among  these 
he  expressly  reckons  Socrates  and  Heraclitus.  Besides,  he  sup- 
posed that  Pythagoras,  Plato,  and  other  educated  Greeks,  in 
their  journeys  to  the  East,  became  acquainted  with  the  Old  Testa- 
ment writings,  and  drew  from  them  the  doctrine  of  the  unity  of 
God,  and  other  like  truths,  though  they  in  various  ways  misun- 
derstood them,  and  adulterated  them  with  pagan  errors.  This 
view  of  a  certain  affinity  between  the  Grecian  philosophy  and 
Christianity,  as  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  new  religion,  was 
afterwards  further  developed  by  the  Alexandrian  fathers  Clement 
and  Origen. 


§   66.      TnE  POSITIVE  APOLOGY.  205 

§  66.  The  Positive  Apology. 

The  Christian  apology  completed  itself  in  the  positive  demon- 
stration of  the  divinity  of  the  new  religion ;  which  was  at  the 
same  time  the  best  refutation  of  both  the  old  ones.  As  early  as 
this  period  the  strongest  historical  and  philosophical  arguments 
for  Christianity  were  brought  forward,  or  at  least  indicated, 
though  in  connexion  with  many  untenable  adjuncts. 

1.  The  great  argument,  not  only  with  Jews,  but  with  heathens 
also,  was  the  prophecies ;  since  the  knowledge  of  future  events 
can  come  only  from  God.  The  first  appeal  of  the  apologists  was, 
of  course,  to  the  prophetic  writings  of  the  Old  Testament.  But 
even  a  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and,  with  more  caution,  an  Origen, 
a  Eusebius,  and  St.  Augustine,  employed  also,  without  hesitation, 
apocryphal  projjhecies,  especially  the  Sibylline  oracles,  a  medley 
of  ancient  heathen,  Jewish,  and  in  part  Christian  fictions,  about  a 
golden  age,  the  coming  of  Christ,  the  fortunes  of  Eome,  and  the 
end  of  the  world.'  And  indeed,  this  was  not  all  error  and  pious 
fraud.  Through  all  heathenism  there  runs,  in  truth,  a  dim, 
unconscious  presentiment  and  longing  hojDC  of  Christianity, 
Think  of  the  fourth  Eclogue  of  Virgil,  with  its  predictions  of 
the  "  virgo"  and  "nova  progenies"  from  heaven,  and  the  "puer," 
with  whom,  after  the  blotting  out  of  sin  and  the  killing  of  the 
serjDent,  a  golden  age  of  peace  was  to  begin. 

2.  The  types.  These,  too,  were  found  not  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment onl}^,  but  in  the  whole  range  of  nature.  Justin  saw  every- 
where, in  the  tree  of  life  in  Eden,  in  Jacob's  ladder,  in  the  rods 
of  Moses  and  Aaron,  nay,  in  every  sailing  ship,  in  the  wave- 
cutting  oar,  in  the  plough,  in  the  human  countenance,  in  the 
human  form  with  outstretched  arms,  in  banners  and  trophies — 
the  sacred  form  of  the  cross,  and  thus  a  prefiguration  of  the 
mystery  of  redemption  through  the  crucifixion  of  the  Lord. 

3.  The  miracles  of  Jesus  and  the  apostles,  with  those  which 

'  Comp.  Dr.  Friedlieb  :  Die  Sibyllinischen  Weissagungen  voUstandig  gesamraelt, 
mit  kritischem  Commentare  und  metrischer  Uebersetzung.  Leipz.  1852.  We  have 
at  present  twelve  books  of  xp/jirf/ot  ai0v\\iaKoi  in  Greek  hexameters,  and  some  frag- 
ments. 


206  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

continued  to  be  wrought  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  according  to  the 
express  testimony  of  the  fathers,  by  their  contemporaries.  But  as 
the  heathens  also  appealed  to  miraculous  deeds  and  appearances 
in  favor  of  their  religion,  Justin,  Arnobius,  and  particularly 
Origen,  fixed  certain  criteria,  such  as  the  moral  purity  of  the 
worker,  and  his  intention  to  glorify  God  and  benefit  man,  for 
distinguishing  the  true  miracles  from  satanic  juggleries.  "  There 
might  have  been  some  ground,"  says  Origen,  "  for  the  comparison 
which  Celsus  makes  between  Jesus  and  certain  wandering  magi- 
cians, if  there  had  appeared  in  the  latter  the  slightest  tendency 
to  beget  in  persons  a  true  fear  of  God,  and  so  to  regulate  their 
actions  in  prospect  of  the  day  of  judgment.  But  they  attempt 
nothing  of  the  sort.  Yea,  they  themselves  arc  guilty  of  the  most 
grievous  crimes  ;  whereas  the  Saviour  would  have  his  hearers  to 
be  convinced  by  the  native  beauty  of  religion  and  the  holy  lives 
of  its  teachers,  rather  than  by  even  the  miracles  they  wrought." 
The  subject  of  ^ws^apostolic  miracles  is  surrounded  by  much 
greater  difficulties  in  the  absence  of  insjiired  testimony,  and  in 
most  cases  even  of  ordinary  immediate  witnesses.  There  is  an 
antecedent  probability  that  the  power  of  working  miracles  was 
not  suddenly  and  abruptly,  but  gradually  withdrawn,  as  the 
necessity  of  such  outward  and  extraordinary  attestation  of  the 
divine  origin  of  Christianity  diminished  and  gave  way  to  the 
natural  operation  of  truth  and  moral  suasion.  Hence  Augustine, 
in  the  fourth  century,  says:  "Since  the  establishment  of  the 
church  God  does  not  wish  to  perpetuate  miracles  even  to  our 
day,  lest  the  mind  should  put  its  trust  in  visible  signs,  or  grow 
cold  at  the  sight  of  common  marvels."  But  it  is  impossible  to 
fix  the  precise  termination,  either  at  the  death  of  the  apostles,  or 
their  immediate  disciples,  or  the  conversion  of  the  Roman  empire, 
or  the  extinction  of  the  Arian  heresy,  or  any  subsequent  era,  and 
to  sift  carefully  in  each  particular  case  the  truth  from  legendary 
fiction.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  genuine  writings  of  the  ante- 
Nicene  church  are  more  free  from  miraculous  and  superstitious 
elements  than  the  annals  of  the  middle  ages,  and  especially  of 
monasticism.   Most  of  the  statements  of  the  apologists  are  couched 


§   66.      THE   POSITIVE   APOLOGY.  207 

in  general  terms,  and  refer  to  extraordinary  cures  from  demonia- 
cal possession  (wliich  probably  includes,  in  tlie  language  of  that 
age,  cases  of  madness,  deep  melancholy,  and  epilepsy)  and  other 
diseases,  by  the  invocation  of  the  name  of  Jesus.  _^  Justin  Martyr 
speaks  of  such  cures  as  a  frequent  occurrence  in  Eome  and  all  over 
the  world,  and  Origen  appeals  to  his  own  personal  observation, 
but  speaks  in  another  place  of  the  growing  scarcity  of  miracles,  so 
as  to  suggest  the  gradual  cessation  theory  as  held  by  Dr.  Neander, 
Bishop  Kaye,  and  others.  Tertullian  attributes  many  if  not  most 
of  the  conversions  of  his  day  to  supernatural  dreams  and  visions, 
as  does  also  Origen,  although  with  more  caution.  But  in  such 
psychological  phenomena  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  draw  the 
line  of  demarcation  between  natural  and  supernatural  causes,  and 
between  providential  interpositions  and  miracles  proper.  The 
strongest  passage  on  this  subject  is  found  in  Irenaeus,  who,  in 
contending  against  the  heretics,  mentions,  besides  prophecies  and 
miraculous  cures  of  demoniacs,  even  the  raising  of  the  dead 
among  contemporary  events  taking  place  in  the  catholic  church  ;* 
but  he  specifies  no  particular  case  or  name;  and  it  should  be 
remembered,  also,  that  his  youth  still  bordered  almost  on  the 
Johannean  age. 

4.  The  moral  effect  of  Christianity  upon  the  heart  and  life  of 
its  professors.  The  Christian  religion  has  not  only  taught  the 
purest  and  sublimest  code  of  morals  ever  known  among  men,  but 
actually  exhibited  it  in  the  life,  sufferings,  and  death  of  its  foun- 
der and  true  followers.  All  the  apologists,  from  the  author  of 
the  epistle  to  Diognetus  down  to  Origen,  Cyprian,  and  Augustine, 
bring  out  in  strong  colors  the  infinite  superiority  of  Christian 
ethics  over  the  heathen,  and  their  testimony  is  fully  corroborated 
by  the  practical  fruits  of  the  church,  as  we  shall  have  occasion 
more  fully  to  show  in  the  fifth  chapter.  "  They  think  us  sense- 
less," sa3^s  Justin,  "  because  we  worship  this  Christ,  who  was 
cnicifled  under  Pontius  Pilate,  as  God  next  to  the  Father.     But 

'  Adv.  haer.  II.  31,  §  2,  and  II.  32,  §4;'HJ/)    St  «■«;    vSKpoi    nyi-p^ricrav    Knl    Traphxtivov 

iT')v  rifiTv  UafoTs  '^rcai.  These  two  passages  can  hardly  be  explained,  with  Heumann 
and  Neander,  as  referring  merely  to  cases  of  apparent  death. 


208  SECOND   PEKIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

they  would  not  say  so,  if  they  knew  the  mystery  of  the  cross. 
By  its  fruits  they  may  know  it.  We,  who  once  lived  in  debauch- 
ery, now  study  chastity ;  we,  who  dealt  in  sorceries,  have  conse- 
crated ourselves  to  the  good,  the  increate  God;  we,  who  loved 
money  and  possessions  above  all  things  else,  now  devote  our 
property  freely  to  the  general  good,  and  give  to  every  needy  one ; 
we,  who  fought  and  killed  each  other,  now  pray  for  our  enemies ; 
those  who  persecute  us  in  hatred,  we  kindly  try  to  aj)pease,  in 
the  hope  that  they  may  share  the  same  blessings  which  we 
enjoy.'" 

0.  The  rapid  spread  of  Christianity  by  purely  moral  means, 
and  in  spite  of  the  greatest  external  obstacles,  yea,  the  bitter 
persecution  of  Jews  and  Gentiles.  Origen  makes  good  use  of 
this  argument  against  Celsus,  and  thinks  that  so  great  a  success 
as  Christianity  met  among  Greeks  and  barbarians,  learned  and 
unlearned  persons,  in  so  short  a  time,  without  any  force  or  other 
worldly  means,  and  in  view  of  the  united  opposition  of  emperors, 
senate,  governors,  generals,  priests,  and  people,  can  only  be 
rationally  accounted  for  on  the  ground  of  an  extraordinary  pro- 
vidence of  God  and  the  divine  nature  of  Christ. 

6.  The  reasonableness  of  Christianity,  and  its  agreement  with 
all  the  true  and  the  beautiful  in  the  Greek  philosophy  and  poesy. 
All  who  had  lived  rationally  before  Christ,  were  really,  though 
unconsciously,  already  Christians.  Thus  all  that  is  Christian  is 
rational,  and  all  that  is  truly  rational  is  Christian.  Yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  of  course,  Christianity  is  supra-rational  (not  irra- 
tional). 

7.  The  adaptation  of  Christianity  to  the  deepest  needs  of  human 
nature,  which  it  alone  can  meet.  Ilere  belongs  Tertullian's  appeal 
to  the  "testimonium  animac  naturalitcr  Christianae ; "  his  pro- 
found thought,  that  the  human  soul  is,  in  its  inmost  essence  and 
instinct,  predestined  for  Christianity,  and  can  find  rest  and  peace 
in  that  alone.  The  soul,  says  he,  though  confined  in  the  prison 
of  the  body,  though  perverted  by  bad  training,  though  weakened 

'  Apol.  I.  c  1:4  aud  11  ([).  35  sq.  ed.  Otto). 


§   66.      THE  POSITIVE   APOLOGY.  209 

by  lusts  and  passions,  tliongh.  given  to  the  service  of  false  gods, 
still  no  sooner  awakes  from  its  intoxication  and  its  dreams,  and 
recovers  its  health,  than  it  calls  upon  God  by  the  one  name  due 
to  him :  "  Great  God !  good  God ! " — and  then  looks,  not  to  the 
capitol,  but  to  heaven ;  for  it  knows  the  abode  of  the  living  God, 
from  whom  it  proceeds.'  This  deep  longing  of  the  human  soul 
for  the  living  God  in  Christ,  Augustine,  in  whom  TertuUian's 
spirit  returned  purified  and  enriched,  afterwards  expressed  in  the 
grand  sentence :  "  Thou,  0  God,  hast  made  us  for  thee,  and  our 
heart  is  restless,  till  it  rests  in  thee.'"' 


*  Tert.  Apolog.  c,  17,  Comp.  the  beautiful  passage  in  De  tesiim.  animae,  c.  2:  Si 
enim  anima  aut  divina  aut  a  Deo  data  est,  sine  dubio  datorem  suum  novit,  et  si  novit, 
utique  et  timet  ...  0  testimonium  veritatis,  quae  apud  ipsa  daemonia  testem  efficit 
Cliristianorura. 

8  Aug.  Confess,  I.  1 :  Fecisti  nos  ad  Te,  et  inquietum  est  cor  nostrum,  donee  re- 
quiescat  in  Te. 


14 


210  SECOND   TERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 


CHAPTER  lY. 

DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE    CHURCH    DOCTRINE    IN  CONFLICT   WITH 

HERESY. 

§  67.  Judaism  and  Heathenism  as  Heresy  loitliin  the  Cliurch. 

Having  thus  noticed  tlie  moral  and  intellectual  victory  of  the 
church  over  avowed  and  consistent  Judaism  and  heathenism,  we 
must  now  look  at  her  deep  and  mighty  struggle  with  those  ene- 
mies in  a  hidden  and  more  dangerous  form ;  with  Judaism  and 
heathenism  concealed  in  the  garb  of  Christianity  and  threatening 
to  Judaize  and  paganize  the  church.  The  patristic  theology  and 
literature  can  never  be  thoroughly  understood  without  a  know- 
ledge of  the  heresies  of  the  patristic  age. 

Judaism,  with  its  religion  and  its  sacred  writings,  and  Graeco- 
Eoman  heathenism,  with  its  secular  culture,  its  science,  and  its 
art,  w^ere  designed  to  pass  into  Christianity,  the  perfect  religion, 
to  be  transformed  and  sanctified.  But  even  in  the  apostolic  age 
there  were  many  Jews  and  Gentiles,  who  were  baptized  only 
with  water,  not  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  fire  of  the  gospel,  and 
who  smuggled  their  old  religious  notions  and  practices  into  the 
church.  Hence  the  heretical  tendencies,  which  are  combated  in 
the  New  Testament,  especially  in  the  Pauline  and  Catholic 
Epistles.' 

The  same  heresies  meet  us  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, and  thenceforth  in  more  mature  form  and  in  greater  extent 
in  almost  all  parts  of  Christendom.  They  evince,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  universal  import  of  the  Christian  religion  in  history, 

»  Comp.  §  24. 


§   67.     JUDAISM  AND   HEATHENISM  AS  HERESY.  211 

and  its  irresistible  power  over  all  tlie  more  profound  and  earnest 
minds  of  the  age.  Christianity  threw  all  the  religious  ideas  of 
antiquity  into  confusion  and  wonderful  agitation.  Thousands 
were  so  struck  with  the  truth,  beauty,  and  vigor  of  the  new  reli- 
gion, that  they  could  no  longer  rest  either  in  Judaism  or  in 
heathenism,  who  yet  were  unable  or  unwilling  to  forsake 
inwardly  their  old  religious  and  philosophical  position.  Hence 
strange  medleys  of  Christian  and  unchristian  elements  in  chaotic 
ferment.  The  old  religions  did  not  die  without  a  last  desperate 
effort  to  save  themselves  by  appropriating  Christian  ideas.  And 
this,  on  the  other  hand,  exposed  the  specific  truth  of  Christianity 
to  the  greatest  danger,  and  obliged  the  church  to  defend  herself 
against  misrepresentation,  and  to  secure  herself  against  relapse 
to  the  Jewish  or  the  heathen  level. 

As  Christianity  was  met  at  its  entrance  into  the  world  by  two 
other  religions,  the  one  relatively  true,  and  the  other  essentially 
false,  heresy  appeared  likewise  in  the  two  leading  forms  of  Ebion- 
ism  and  Gnosticism,  the  germs  of  which,  as  already  observed, 
attracted  the  notice  of  the  apostles.  The  remark  of  Hegesippus, 
that  the  church  preserved  a  virginal  purity  of  doctrine  to  the 
time  of  Hadrian,  must  be  understood  as  made  only  in  view  of 
the  open  advance  of  Gnosticism  in  the  second  century,  and  there- 
fore as  only  relatively  true.  The  very  same  writer  expressly 
observes,  that  heresy  had  been  already  secretly  working  from 
the  days  of  Simon  Magus.  Ebionism  is  a  Judaizing,  pseudo- 
Petrine  Christianity,  or,  as  it  may  equally  well  be  called,  a 
Christianizing  Judaism ;  Gnosticism  is  a  paganizing  or  pseudo- 
Pauline  Christianity,  or  a  pseudo-Christian  heathenism. 

These  two  great  types  of  heresy  are  properly  opposite  poles. 
Ebionism  is  a  particularistic  contraction  of  the  Christian  religion ; 
Gnosticism,  a  vague  expansion  of  it.  The  one  is  a  gross  realism 
and  literalism ;  the  other,  a  fantastic  idealism  and  spiritualism. 
In  the  former  the  spirit  is  bound  in  outward  forms ;  in  the  latter 
it  revels  in  licentious  freedom.  Ebionism  makes  salvation  depend 
on  observance  of  the  law ;  Gnosticism,  on  speculative  knowledge. 
Under  the  influence   of  Judaistic   legalism,   Christianity  must 


212  SECOXD   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

stiffen  and  petrify ;  under  the  influence  of  Gnostic  speculation  it 
must  dissolve  into  empty  notions  and  fancies.  Ebionism  denies 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  sees  in  the  gospel  only  a  new  law ; 
Gnosticism  denies  the  true  humanity  of  the  Redeemer,  and  makes 
his  person  and  his  work  a  mere  phantom,  a  docetistic  illusion. 

The  two  extremes,  however,  meet ;  both  tendencies  from  oppo- 
site directions  reach  the  same  result — the  denial  of  the  incarna- 
tion, of  the  true  and  abiding  union  of  the  divine  and  the  human 
in  Christ  and  his  kingdom ;  and  thus  they  fall  together  under 
St.  John's  criterion  of  the  antichristian  sjiirit  of  error.'  In  both 
Christ  ceases  to  be  mediator  and  reconciler,  and  his  religion 
makes  no  specific  advance  upon  the  Jewish  and  the  heathen, 
which  place  God  and  man  in  abstract  dualism,  or  allow  them 
none  but  a  transient  and  illusory  union. 

Hence,  there  were  also  some  forms  of  error,  in  which  Ebion- 
istic  and  Gnostic  elements  were  combined.  We  have  a  Gnostic 
or  theosophic  Ebionism  (the  pseudo-Clementine),  and  a  Judaizing 
Gnosticism  (in  Cerinthus  and  others).  These  mixed  forms  also 
we  find  combated  in  the  apostolic  age.  Indeed  similar  forms  of 
rehgious  syncretism  we  meet  with  even  before  the  time  and 
beyond  the  field  of  Christianity,  in  the  Essenes,  the  Thera- 
peutae,  and  the  Platonizing  Jewish  philosopher,  Pidlo. 

§  68.  Ebionism. 

I.  Irenaecs  :  Adv.  haer.  I.  26.  Hippol.  :  Refut.  omnium  haer.  1.  IX.  13-17. 
Epipiian.  :  Haer.  29,  30,  53.  Scattered  notices  in  Justin  M. ;  Tertull., 
Orig.,  Heges.,  Eus.,  and  Jerome. 

n.  Gieseler:  Nazaraer  u.  Ebioniten  (in  the  fourth  vol  of  Staudlin's  and 
Tzschirner's  Archiv).  Schliemann  :  Die  Clementinen  u.  der  Ebionitismus, 
Ilamb.  1844,  p.  3G2-552.  Ritschl  :  Ueber  die  Secte  der  Elkesailen  (in 
Niedner's  "  Zeitsclir.  fiir  hist.  Theol."  1853,  No.  4.  Uhluorh  :  Art. 
"Ebioniten"  in  Herzog's  Theol.  Real-EncykL  Vol  III.  C21  sqq.  (1855); 
and  "  Elkesaiten,"  ibid.  p.  771  sqq. 

The  Jewish  Christianity,  represented  in  the  apostolic  church 
by  Peter  and  James,  combined  with  the  Gentile  Christianity  of 

•  1  Jno.  iv.  1-3. 


§  68.     EBiONisii.  213 

Paul,  to  form  a  Christian  cliurch,  in  wliicli  neither  circumcision 
availetli  anything,  nor  uncircumcision,  but  a  new  creature  in 
Christ.  A  portion  of  the  Jewish  Christians,  however,  adhered 
even  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  to  the  national  customs 
of  their  fathers,  and  propagated  themselves  in  some  churches  of 
Syria  down  to  the  end  of  the  fourth  century,  under  the  name  of 
Nazarenes  ;  a  name  perhaps  originally  given  in  contempt  by 
the  Jews  to  all  Christians  as  followers  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.* 
They  united  the  observance  of  the  Mosaic  ritual  law  with  their 
belief  in  the  Messiahship  and  divinity  of  Jesus,  used  the  Gospel 
of  Matthew  in  Hebrew,  deeply  mourned  the  unbelief  of  their 
brethren,  and  hoped  for  their  future  conversion  in  a  body,  and  for 
a  millennial  reign  of  Christ  on  the  earth.  But  they  indulged  no 
antipathy  to  the  apostle  Paul,  and  never  denounced  the-  Gentile 
Christians  as  heretics  for  not  observing  the  law.  They  were, 
therefore,  not  heretics,  but  stunted  separatist  Christians  of  the 
school  of  James ;  they  stopped  at  the  obsolete  position  of  a  nar- 
row and  anxious  Jewish  Christianity;  and  shrank  to  an  insigni- 
ficant sect.  Jerome  says  of  them,  that,  wishing  to  be  Jews  and 
Christians  alike,  they  were  neither  one  nor  the  other. 

From  these  Nazarenes  we  must  carefully  distinguish  the  here- 
tical Jewish  Christians,  or  the  Ebionites,  who  were  more  nume- 
rous. Their  name  comes  not,  as  Tertullian  first  intimated,  fi'om 
a  supposed  founder  of  the  sect,  Ebion,  of  whom  we  know  nothing^ 
but  from  the  Hebrew  word,  "\'i^':^Vi,  jpoor.  It  may  have  been 
originally,  like  Nazarene  and  Galilean,  a  contemptuous  desig- 
nation of  all  Christians,  the  majority  of  whom  lived  in  needy 
circumstances,  but  it  was  afterwards  confined  to  this  sect ; 
whether  in  reproach,  to  denote  the  poverty  of  their  doctrine  of 
Christ  and  of  the  law,  as  Origen  more  ingeniously  than  correctly 
explains  it;  or,  more  probably,  in  konor,  since  the  Ebionites 
regarded  themselves  as  the  genuine  followers  of  the  poor  Christ 
and  his  poor  disciples,  and  applied  to  themselves  alone  the  bene- 
diction on  the  poor  in  spirit.     According  to  Epiphanius,  Ebion 

'  Comp.  Acts  xxiv.  5. 


214  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

spread  his  error  first  in  the  company  of  Christians  whicli  fled 
to  Pella  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem ;  according  to  Ilege- 
sippus  in  Eusebius,  one  Thebutis,  after  the  death  of  the  bishop 
Sjmeon  of  Jerusalem,  about  107,  made  schism  among  the  Jewish 
Christians,  and  led  many  of  them  to  apostatize,  because  he  him- 
self was  not  elected  to  the  bishopric. 

"\Ye  find  the  sect  of  the  Ebionites  in  Palestine  and  the  sur- 
rounding regions,  on  the  island  of  Cyprus,  in  Asia  Minor,  and 
even  in  Rome.  Though  it  consisted  mostly  of  Jews,  Gentile 
Christians  also  sometimes  attached  themselves  to  it.  It  continued 
into  the  fourth  century,  but  at  the  time  of  Theodoret  was  entirely 
extinct.  It  used  a  Hebrew  gospel,  now  lost,  which  was  probably 
a  corruption  of  the  gospel  of  Matthew. 

The  characteristic  marks  of  Ebionism  in  all  its  forms  are  : 
degradation  of  Christianity  to  the  level  of  Judaism ;  the  principle 
of  the  universal  and  perpetual  validity  of  the  Mosaic  law ;  and 
enmity  to  the  apostle  Paul.  But,  as  there  were  different  sects  in 
Judaism  itself,  we  have  also  to  distinguish  at  least  two  branches 
of  Ebionism,  related  to  each  other  as  Pharisaism  and  Essenism, 
or,  to  use  a  modem  illustration,  as  the  older  deistic  and  the 
speculative  pantheistic  rationalism  in  Germany,  or  the  two 
schools  of  unitarianism  in  England  and  America. 

1.  The  common  Ebionites,  who  were  by  far  the  more  numerous, 
embodied  the  Pharisaic  legal  spirit,  and  were  the  proper  succes- 
sors of  the  Judaizcrs  opposed  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians. 
Their  doctrine  may  be  reduced  to  the  following  propositions :  (a) 
Jesus  is,  indeed,  the  promised  Messiah,  the  son  of  David,  and 
the  supreme  lawgiver,  yet  a  mere  man,  like  Moses  and  David, 
sprung  by  natural  generation  from  Joseph  and  Mary.  The  sense 
of  his  Messianic  calling  first  arose  in  him  at  his  baptism  by  John, 
when  a  higher  spirit  joined  itself  to  him.  Hence,  Origen  com- 
pared this  sect  to  the  blind  man  in  the  gospel,  who  called  to  the 
Lord,  without  seeing  him :  "  Thou  son  of  David,  have  mercy  on 
me."  (b)  Circumcision  and  the  observance  of  the  whole  ritual 
law  of  Moses  are  necessary  to  salvation  for  all  men.  (c)  Paul  is 
an  apostate  and  heretic,  and  all  his  epistles  are  to  be  discarded. 


§   69.      THE  PSEUDO-CLEMENTIjSTE  EBIONISil.  215 

The  sect  considered  him  a  native  heathen,  who  came  over  to 
Judaism  in  later  life  from  impure  motives,  (d)  Christ  is  soon 
to  come  again,  to  introduce  the  glorious  millennial  reign  of  the 
Messiah,  with  the  earthly  Jerusalem  for  its  seat. 

2.  The  second  class  of  Ebionites,  starting  with  Essenic  notions, 
gave  their  Judaism  a  speculative  or  theosophic  stamp,  like  the 
errorists  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  They  form  the  step- 
ping-stone to  Gnosticism.  Among  these  belong  the  Elkesaites.^ 
They  are  supposed  to  have  arisen  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
century  in  the  regions  around  the  Dead  Sea,  where  the  Essenes 
lived.  Their  name  is  derived  from  their  founder,  Elxai,  and  is 
interpreted,  "  hidden  power."^  Probably  this  was  not  originally 
the  name  of  a  person,  but  the  title  of  a  book,  pretending,  like  the 
book  of  Mormon,  to  be  revealed  by  an  angel,  and  held  in  the 
highest  esteem  by  the  sect.  This  secret  writing,  according  to 
the  fragments  in  Origen,  and  in  the  lately  discovered  Philo- 
sophoumena  of  Hippolytus,  contains  the  groundwork  of  the 
remarkable  pseudo-Clementine  system,  which  we  proceed  in  the 
next  section  to  consider. 


§  69.  The  Pseudo- Clementine  Elionism. 

I.  Ta  'KXrifitv'tia.,  or  more  accurately,  KXrunvtoi  tuiv  nir'pov  trti^TjficCjv  xtjpvyfAdtuv 
Erti-f  OjUjj,  first  published  (without  tlie  twentieth  homily)  by  Coielier  in  his 
Patres  Apost.  Par.  1672 ;  then  again  by  Schivegkr,  Stuttg.  1847 ;  and 
now  first  entire,  from  a  new  codex,  by  A.  Dressel  (with  Latin  transl.  and 
notes),  under  the  title  :  Clementis  Romani  quae  feruntur  Homiliae 
ViGiNTi  nunc  primum  integrae.  Gott.  1853. — Clementis  Rom.  Recog- 
NiTioNES  (tti'ayi'copK?;Uoi,'),  extant  only  in  the  Latin  translation  of  Rufinus ; 
first  published  in  Basel,  1526 ;  then  better  by  Coielier,  OaUandi,  and  by 
Qersdorf  in  his  "  Bibl.  Patr.  Lat."  Lips.  1838.  Vol.  1. — Clementis 
Epitome  de  gestis  Petri  (Kx^ju.  hrciax.  'Pw^jjj  rtspt  iZiv  rtpa^fwi'  STiihr^^LLZjv 
I's  xal  xt^pvyixdifuv  ITtVpov  trtir'ofijj),  first  at  Par.  1555;  then  critically 
edited  by  CoteUer,  1.  c.     (The  Epitome  is  only  a  summary  of  the  Homilies.) 

TI.  Neander  &  Baur  in  their  works  on  Gnosticism  (vid.  the  following  §). 
Schliemann  :  Die  Clementinen  nebst  den  verwandten  Schriften,  u.  der 

*  'EXwiraroi,  also  called  in  Epiphanius,  LaixipaXot,  from   '^';i2'.-5   s^^n- 


216  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

Ebionitismus.  Hamb.  1844.  IIilgen'feld  :  Die  Clementinischcn  Recog- 
nitionen  u.  Homilien  nach  ihrem  Ursprung  u.  Inhalt.  Jena,  1848.  Die 
Apost.  Vater.  Halle,  1853.  p.  287-302.  Uhlhorn:  Die  Homilien  u. 
Eecognitionen  des  Clemens  Romanus.  Gott.  1854.  Comp.  the  same 
author's  article  "  Clementinen,"  in  Herzog's  Encykl.  Vol.  II.,  744  sqq. 
Ritschl:  Die  Entstehung  der  altkath.  Kirche.  1857  (2d  ed.  p.  206-270). 

The  system  of  the  pseudo-Clementine  Homilies  exhibits  Ebion- 
ism  at  once  in  its  thcosophic  perfection,  and  in  its  internal  dis- 
solution. It  represents  rather  an  individual  opinion,  than  a 
sect,  but  holds  probably  some  connexion,  not  definitely  ascer- 
tained, with  the  Elkesaites,  who,  as  appears  from  the  "  Philo- 
sophoumena,"  branched  out  even  to  Eome.  It  is  genuinely 
Ebionistic  or  Judaistic  in  its  monotheistic  basis,  its  concealed 
antagonism  to  Paul,  and  its  assertion  of  the  essential  identity  of 
Christianity  and  Judaism,  while  it  expressly  rejects  the  Gnostic 
fundamental  doctrine  of  the  demiurge.  It  cannot,  therefore, 
properly  be  classed,  as  it  is  by  Baur  and  others,  among  the 
Gnostic  schools. 

The  twenty  Clementine  Homilies  bear  the  celebrated  name 
of  the  Roman  bishop)  Clement,  mentioned  in  Phil.  iv.  3,  as  a 
helper  of  Paul,  but  evidently  confounded  in  the  pseudo-Clemen- 
tine literature  with  Flavins  Clement,  kinsman  of  the  emperor 
Domitian.  They  really  come  from  an  unknown,  philosopliically 
educated  author,  probably  a  Jewish-Christian,  of  the  second 
half  of  the  second  century.  They  are  a  philosophico-religious, 
romance,  based  on  some  historical  traditions,  which  it  is  now 
impossible  to  separate  from  apocryphal  accretions.  They  are 
prefaced  by  a  letter  of  Peter  to  James,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  in 
which  he  sends  him  his  sermons,  and  begs  him  to  keep  them 
strictly  secret;  and  by  a  letter  of  the  pseudo-Clement  to  the 
same  James,  in  which  he  relates  how  Peter,  shortly  before  his 
death,  appointed  him  (Clement)  his  successor  in  Rome,  and 
enjoined  upon  him  to  send  to  James  a  work  composed  at  the 
instance  of  Peter,  oititled  "  Clementis  Epitome  praedicationuni 
Petri  in  peregrinationibus."^     By  these  epistles  it  was  evidently 


§    69.      THE   PSEUDO-CLEMENTINE   EBIONISM.  217 

designed  to  impart  to  the  pretended  extract  from  the  itinerant 
sermons  and  the  disputations  of  Peter,  the  highest  apostolical  autho- 
rity, and  at  the  same  time  to  explain  the  long  concealment  of  them. 

The  substance  of  the  Homilies  themselves  is  briefly  this  : 
Clement,  an  educated  Roman,  of  the  imperial  family,  not  satisfied 
with  heathenism,  and  thirsting  for  truth,  goes  to  Judaea,  having 
heard,  under  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  that  Jesus  had  appeared 
there.  In  Caesarea  he  meets  the  apostle  Peter,  and  being 
instructed  and  converted  by  him,  accompanies  him  on  his  mis- 
sionary journeys  in  Palestine,  to  Tyre,  Tripolis,  Laodicea,  and 
Antioch.  He  attends  upon  the  sermons  of  Peter  and  his  long 
repeated  disputations  with  Simon  Magus,  and,  at  the  request 
of  the  apostle,  commits  the  substance  of  them  to  writing,  Simon 
Peter  is  thus  the  proper  hero  of  the  romance,  and  appears 
throughout  as  the  representative  of  pure,  primitive  Christianity,, 
in  opposition  to  Simon  Magus,  who  is  portrayed  as  a  "  man. 
full  of  enmity  "  and  a  "  deceiver,"  the  author  of  all  anti-Jewish, 
heresies,  especially  of  the  Marcionite  Gnosticism.  Indeed,  it  is 
probably  the  apostle  Paul,  nowhere  named  in  the  work,  whom,, 
under  the  mask  of  the  magician,  the  writer  combats  as  the  first 
corrupter  of  Christianity.  The  author  was  acquainted  with  the 
four  canonical  gospels,  and  used  them,  Matthew  most,  John 
least ;  and  with  them  another  work  of  the  same  sort,  probably 
of  the  Ebionistic  stamp,  but  now  unknown. 

The  doctrine  which  pseudo-Clement  puts  into  the  mouth  of 
Peter,  and  very  skilfully  interweaves  with  his  narrative,  is  a  con- 
ftised  mixture  of  Ebionistic  and  Gnostic,  ethical  and  metaphysi- 
cal ideas  and  fancies.  He  sees  in  Christianity  only  the  restora- 
tion of  the  pure  primordial  religion,  which  God  revealed  in  the 
creation,  but  which,  on  account  of  the  obscuring  power  of  sin 
and  the  seductive  influence  of  demons,  must  be  from  time  to  time 
renewed.  The  representatives  of  this  religion  are  the  seven  pil- 
lars of  the  world, ^  Adam,  Enoch,  Noah,  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob, 
Moses,  and  Christ.     These  are  in  reality  only  different  incarna- 

*  Comp.  Prov.  ix.  1. 


218  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

tions  of  the  same  Adam  or  primal  man,  the  true  prophet  of  God, 
who  is  omniscient  and  infallible.  What  is  recorded  unfavorable 
to  these  holy  men,  the  drunkenness  of  Noah,  the  polygamy  of 
the  patriarchs,  the  homicide  of  Moses,  and  especially  the  blas- 
phemous history  of  the  fall  of  Adam,  as  well  as  all  unworthy 
anthropopathical  passages  concerning  God,  were  foisted  into  the 
Old  Testament  by  the  devil  and  demons.  Thus,  where  Philo  and 
Origen  resorted  to  allegorical  interpretation,  to  remove  what 
seems  offensive  in  Scripture,  pseudo-Clement  adopts  the  still 
more  arbitrary  hypothesis  of  diabolical  interpolations.  Among 
the  true  prophets  of  God,  again,  he  gives  Adam,  Moses,  and 
Christ  peculiar  eminence,  and  places  Christ  above  all,  though 
without  raising  him  essentially  above  a  prophet  and  lawgiver. 
The  history  of  religion,  therefore,  is  not  one  of  progress,  but  only 
of  return  to  the  primitive  revelation.  Christianity  and  Mosaism 
are  identical,  and  both  coincide  with  the  religion  of  Adam. 
Whether  a  man  believe  in  Moses  or  in  Christ,  it  is  all  the  same, 
provided  he  blaspheme  neither.  But  to  know  both,  and  find  in 
both  the  same  doctrine,  is  to  be  rich  in  God,  to  recognise  the  new 
as  old,  and  the  old  as  become  new.  Christianity  is  an  advance 
only  in  its  extension  of  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  and  its  conse- 
quent universal  character. 

As  the  fundamental  principle  of  this  pure  religion  our  author 
lays  down  the  doctrine  of  one  God,  the  creator  of  the  world.  This 
is  thoroughly  Ebionistic,  and  directly  opposed  to  the  dualism  of 
the  demiurgic  doctrine  of  the  Gnostics.  But  then  he  makes  tlie 
whole  stream  of  created  life  flow  forth  from  God  in  a  long  succes- 
sion of  sexual  and  ethical  antitheses  and  syzygies,  and  return  into 
him  as  its  absolute  rest ;'  here  plainly  touching  the  pantheistic  ema- 
nation theory  of  Gnosticism.  God  himself,  one  from  the  begin- 
ning, has  divided  everything  into  counterparts,  into  right  and  left, 
heaven  and  earth,  day  and  night,  light  and  darkness,  life  and 
death.  The  monad  thus  becomes  the  dyad.  The  better  came 
first,  the  worse  followed ;  but  from  man  onward  the  order  was 

'  Aidiravffi?. 


§    69.      THE   PSEUDO-CLEMENTINE   EBIONISM.  219 

reversed.  Adara,  created  in  the  image  of  God,  is  tlie  true  pro- 
phet ;  liis  wife,  Eve,  represents  false  prophecy.  They  were  fol- 
lowed, first,  by  wicked  Cain,  and  then  by  righteous  Abel.  So 
Peter  appeared  after  Simon  Magus,  as  light  after  darkness,  health 
after  sickness.  So,  at  the  last,  will  antichrist  ]3recede  the  advent 
of  Christ.  And  finally,  the  whole  present  order  of  things  loses 
itself  in  the  future ;  the  pious  pass  into  eternal  life ;  the  ungodly, 
since  the  soul  becomes  mortal  by  the  corruption  of  the  divine 
image,  are  annihilated  after  suffering  a  punishment,  which  is 
described  as  a  purifying  fire.'  When  the  author  speaks  of  eternal 
punishment,  he  merely  accommodates  himself  to  the  popular 
notion.  The  fulfilling  of  the  law,  in  the  Ebionistic  sense,  and 
knowledge,  on  a  half-Gnostic  principle,  are  the  two  parts  of  the 
way  of  salvation.  The  former  includes  frequent  fasts,  ablutions, 
abstinence  from  animal  food,  and  voluntary  poverty  \  while  early 
marriage  is  enjoined,  to  prevent  licentiousness.  In  declaring 
baptism  to  be  absolutely  necessary  to  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  the 
author  approaches  the  catholic  system.  He  likewise  adopts  the 
catholic  principle  involved,  that  salvation  is  to  be  found  only  in 
the  external  church. 

As  regards  ecclesiastical  organization,  he  fully  embraces  the 
episcopal  monarchical  view.  The  bishop  holds  the  place  of 
Christ  in  the  congregation,  and  has  power  to  bind  and  loose. 
Under  him  stand  the  presbyters  and  deacons.  But  singularly, 
and  again  in  true  Ebionistic  style,  James,  the  brother  of  the 
Lord,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  which  is  the  centre  of  Christendom, 
is  made  the  general  vicar  of  Christ,  the  visible  head  of  the  whole 
church,  the  bishop  of  bishops.  Hence  even  Peter  must  give  him 
an  account  of  his  labors ;  and  hence  too,  according  to  the  intro- 
ductory epistles,  the  sermons  of  Peter  and  Clement's  abstract  of 
them  were  sent  to  James  for  safe-keeping,  with  the  statement, 
that  Clement  had  been  named  by  Peter  as  his  successor  at  Eome. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  this  appeal  to  a  pseudo-Petrine  primitive- 
Christianity  was  made  by  the  author  of  the  Homilies  with  a  view 

*  riujJ  Ka^apaiov. 


220  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

to  reconcile  all  the  existing  differences  and  divisions  in  Christen- 
dom. In  this  effort  he,  of  course,  did  not  succeed,  but  rather 
made  way  for  the  dissolution  of  the  Ebionistic  clement  still  exist- 
ing in  the  orthodox  catholic  church. 

Besides  these  Homilies,  of  which  the  Epitome  is  only  a  poor 
abridgment,  there  are  several  other  works,  some  printed,  some 
still  unpublished,  which  are  likewise  forged  upon  Clement  of 
Rome,  and  based  upon  the  same  historical  material,  with  unim- 
portant deviations,  but  are  in  great  measure  free,  as  to  doctrine, 
from  Judaistic  and  Gnostic  ingredients,  and  come  considerably 
nearer  the  line  of  orthodoxy.  The  most  important  of  these  are 
the  Recognitions  of  Clement,  in  ten  books,  mentioned  by  Origen, 
but  now  extant  onl}-  in  a  Latin  translation.  They  take  their 
name  from  the  narrative,  in  the  last  books,  of  the  reunion  of  the 
scattered  members  of  the  Clementine  family,  who  all  at  last  find 
themselves  together  in  Christianity,  and  are  baptized  by 
Peter. 

On  the  question  of  priority  between  these  two  works  critics 
are  divided,  some '  making  the  Recognitions  an  orthodox,  or  at 
least  more  nearly  orthodox,  version  of  the  Homilies;  others* 
regarding  the  homilies  as  a  heretical  corruj^tion  of  the  Recogni- 
tions. The  former  view  has  more  in  its  favor.  Perhaps  some 
more  simple  original  pseudo-Petrine  document  lies  at  the  bottom 
of  all  these  pseudo-Clementine  works.  As  to  their  birth-place, 
the  Homilies  probal)ly  originated  in  East  Syria,  the  Recognitions 
in  Rome. 

In  a  literary  point  of  view,  these  productions  are  remarkable, 
as  the  first  Christian  works  of  romance.  They  far  surpass,  in 
matter,  and  especially  in  moral  earnestness  and  tender  feeling, 
the  heathen  romances  of  a  Cliariton  and  an  Achilles  Tatios,  of 
the  fourth  or  fifth  centuries.  The  style,  though  somewhat  tedious, 
is  fascinating  in  its  wa}-,  and  betrays  a  real  artist  in  its  combina- 
tion of  the  didactic  and  historical,  the  jDhilosophical  and- the  poetic. 

1  Schliemann,  Ublliorn,  »fec.  *  Particularly  Ililgenfeld  aud  Ritacbl. 


§    70.      GNOSTICISM — ITS  NAME,  ORIGIN,  AND   HISTORY.    221 

§  70.    Gnosticism.     Its  Name^  Origin,  and  Outward  History. 

I.  The  sources  are  almost  all  the  ecclesiastical  authors  of  the  age ;  particularly 

Iren.  :  Adv.  haereses.  Hippol.  :  Refut.  oranium  haeresium.  Tertull.  : 
De  praescriptionibus  haereticorum ;  Adv.  Valentin. ;  Scorpiace ;  Adv. 
Mara  Clem.  Alex.  ;  Orig.  ;  Epiph.  :  Adv.  haer. ;  and  Theodor.  :  Fabul. 
haer.  Also  the  work  of  the  Neo-Platonist,  Plotinus  :  IIpoj  tovi  yvuxitixovi 
(or  Ennead.  II.  9).  The  lately  published  G-nostic  work  (of  the  Valen- 
tinian  school  in  the  wider  sense),  Pistis  Sophia  ;  Opus  gnosticum  e  codice 
Coptico  descriptum  lat.  vertit  M.  Gr.  Schwartze,  ed.  J.  H.  Petcrmann, 
BerL  1851.  (Comp.  on  this  the  article  of  Kostlin  in  the  "  Tiib.  TheoL 
Jahrbiicher,"  1854.) 

II.  Massuet  (R.  C.) :  Dissert,  de  Gnosticorum  rebus,  prefixed  to  his  edition 

of  Irenaeus ;  also  in  Stieren's  edition  of  Iren.  vol.  ii.  p.  54-180.  Mosheim  : 
Comment,  de  rebus  ante  Const.  M.  p.  333  sqq.  Neander:  G-enet.  Ent- 
wicklung  der  gnost.  Systeme.  Berl.  1818  (comp.  his  more  mature  exposi- 
tion in  his  General  Ch.  Hist.)  Matter  :  Histoire  critique  du  Gnosticisme. 
Par.  1828  (1843),  2  vols.  Burton  :  Bampton  Lectures  on  the  Heresies 
of  the  Apost.  Age.  Oxf.  1830.  Mouler  (R.  C):  Der  Ursprung  des 
Gnosticismus.  Tiib.  1831  (in  his  Vermischte  Schriften.  I.  p.  403  sqq.) 
Baur:  Die  christhche  Gnosis  in  ihrer  geschichtl.  Entwicklung.  Tiib. 
1835  (comp.  his  Christenthum  der  3ersten  Jahrh.,  p.  159  sqq.)  H.  Ros- 
SEL :  Gesch.  der  Untersuch.  iiber  den  Gnostic,  (in  the  TheoL  Nachlass, 
published  by  Neander.  Berl.  1847,  vol.  2nd,  p.  179-250).  TniERScn: 
Kritik  der  N.  Tlichen  Schriften.  Erl.  1845  (chap.  5,  p.  231  sqq.  and  268 
sqq.)  Jacobi  :  Art.  "  Gnosis"  in  Herzog's  Encykl.  vol.  5  (1856),  p.  204 
-218.  Also  a  number  of  monographs  and  articles  on  individual  Gnostics, 
Basihdes,  Valentinus,  Marcion,  &c.  (See  the  special  literature  in  Gieseler, 
I.  §  44-47;  Hase,  §  76-80 ;  Niedner,  p.  225  sqq.,  and  Kurtz:  Handbuch 
der  K.  G.  I.  §  67-78.) 

The  Judaistic  form  of  eiTor  was  substantially  conquered  in 
the  apostolic  age.  More  important  and  more  widely  spread  in 
the  second  period  was  the  paganizing  heresy,  known  by  the 
name  of  Gnosticism. 

As  to  this  name  itself:  Gnosis  denotes  in  general  all  more 
profound  philosophical  or  religious  knowledge,  in  distinction 
from  superficial  opinion  or  blind  belief.  The  New  Testament 
itself,  however,  makes  a  plain  distinction  between  true  and  fldse 
gnosis.  The  true  consists  in  a  deep  insight  of  the  essence  and 
structure  of  the  Christian  truth,  springs  from  faith,  is  accom- 
panied by  the  cardinal  virtues  of  love  and  humility,  serves  to 


222  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

edify  the  church,  and  belongs  among  the  spiritual  gifts  wrought; 
by  the  Holy  Ghost.^  The  false  gnosis,^  on  the  contrary,  against 
which  Paul  warns  Timoth}^,  and  which  he  censures  in  the 
Corinthians,  is  a  morbid  pride  of  wisdom,  an  arrogant,  self-con- 
ceited, ambitious  knowledge,  which  puffs  up,  instead  of  edify- 
ing,^ runs  into  idle  subtleties  and  disputes,  and  verifies  in  its 
course  the  apostle's  word :  "  Professing  themselves  to  be  wise, 
they  became  fools."* 

In  this  bad  sense  the  word  applies  to  the  error  of  which  we 
now  speak,  and  which  began  to  show  itself  at  least  as  early  as 
the  days  of  Paul  and  John.  It  rests  on  an  over-valuation  of 
knowledge  or  gnosis,  and  a  depreciation  of  faith  or  pistis. 
The  Gnostics  contrasted  themselves  by  this  name  "wdtli  the 
Pistics,  or  the  mass  of  believing  Christians.  They  regarded 
Christianity  as  consisting  essentially  in  knowledge  alone;  fancied 
themselves  the  sole  possessors  of  an  esoteric,  philosophical  reli- 
gion, which  made  them  genuine  spiritual  men ;  and  looked  down 
with  contempt  upon  the  mere  men  of  the  soul  and  of  the 
body.  They,  moreover,  adulterated  Christianity  with  sundry 
elements  entirely  foreign,  and  thus  quite  obscured  the  true 
essence  of  the  gospel. 

We  must  next  consider  the  origin  of  this  heresy. 

As  to  its  substance,  Gnosticism  is  chiefly  of  heathen  descent. 
It  is  a  peculiar  translation  or  transfusion  of  heathen  philosophy 
and  religion  into  Christianity.  This  was  perceived  by  the 
church  fathers  in  their  day.  Hippolytus  particularly,  in  his 
lately  discovered  "  Philosophoumena,"  endeavors  to  trace  the 
Gnostic  heresies  to  the  various  systems  of  Greek  philosophy, 
making  Simon  Magus,  for  example,  dependent  on  Heraclitus, 
Valentine  on  Pythagoras  and  Plato,  Basilides  on  Aristotle, 
Marcion  on  Empedocles  ;  and  hence,  in  this  work,  he  first 
exhibits  the  doctrines  of  the  Greek  philosophy  from  Thales 
down.  Of  all  these  systems,  Platonism  had  the  greatest  influ- 
ence, especially  on  the  Alexandrian  Gnostics;  though  not  so 

'  Afl'yof  yvaiacu's,  X(5yo{  ooipiaf,   1  Cor.  xii.  8.     Comp.  xiii.  2,  12.     Juo.  xvii.  3. 
^'^Vcvidvviios  yycutrif,  1  Tiui.  vi.  20.  '  1  Cor.  viii.  ].  *  Rom  i.  22. 


§  70.      GNOSTICISM — ITS  NAME,  ORIGIN,  AND  HISTORY.     223 

mucli  in  its  original  Hellenic  form,  as  in  its  later  orientalized 
eclectic  and  mystic  cast,  of  whicli  Neo-Platonism  was  another 
fruit.  The  Platonic  speculation  yielded  the  germs  of  the  Gnostic 
doctrine  of  aeons,  the  conceptions  of  matter,  of  the  antithesis  of 
an  ideal  and  a  real  world,  of  an  ante-mundane  fall  of  souls  from 
the  ideal  world,  of  the  origin  of  sin  from  matter,  and  of  the 
needed  redemption  of  the  soul  from  the  fetters  of  the  body.  We 
find  also  in  the  Gnostics  traces  of  the  Pythagorean  symbolical 
use  of  numbers,  the  Stoic  physics  and  ethics,  and  some  Aristo- 
telian elements. 

But  this  reference  to  Hellenic  philosophy,  with  which  Massuet 
was  content,  is  not  enough.  Since  Beausobre  and  Mosheim  the 
east  has  been  rightly  joined  with  Greece,  as  the  native  home  of 
this  heresy.  This  may  be  inferred  from  the  mystic,  flmtastic, 
enigmatic  form  of  the  Gnostic  speculation,  and  from  the  fact, 
that  most  of  its  representatives  sprang  from  Egypt  and  Syria. 
The  conquests  of  Alexandei^,  the  spread  of  the  Greek  language 
and  literature,  and  especially  Christianity,  produced  a  mighty 
agitation  in  the  eastern  mind,  which  reacted  on  the  west.  Gnos- 
ticism has  accordingly  been  regarded  as  more  or  less  parallel 
with  the  heretical  forms  of  Judaism,  with  Essenism,  Therapeu- 
tism,  Philo's  pliilosophico-religious  system,  and  with  the  Cabbala, 
the  origin  of  which  probably  dates  as  far  back  as  the  first  cen- 
tury. The  affinity  of  Gnosticism  also  with  the  Zoroastrian 
dualism  of  a  kingdom  of  light  and  a  kingdom  of  darkness,  is 
unmistakable,  especially  in  the  Syrian  Gnostics.  Its  alliance 
with  the  pantheistic,  docetistic,  and  ascetic  elements  of  Buddhism, 
which  had  advanced  at  the  time  of  Christ  to  western  Asia,  is 
equally  plain.  Parsic  and  Indian  influence  is  most  evident  in 
Manichaeism,  while  the  Hellenic  element  there  amounts  to  very 
little. 

Gnosticism,  with  its  syncretistic  tendency,  is  no  isolated  fact. 
It  struck  its  roots  deep  in  the  mighty  revolution  of  ideas  induced 
by  the  fall  of  the  old  religions  and  the  triumph  of  the  new. 
Philo,  in  his  time,  endeavored  to  combine  the  Jewish  religion, 
by  allegorical  exposition,  or  rather  imposition,  with  Platonic 


224  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

pliilosophy;  and  this  system,  according  as  it  should  be  prose 
cuted  under  the  Christian  or  the  heathen  influence,  might  prepare 
the  way  cither  for  the  speculative  theology  of  the  Alexandrian 
church  fathers,  or  the  heretical  Gnosis.  Still  more  nearly  akin 
to  Gnosticism  is  Neo-Platonism,  which  arose  a  little  later  than 
Philo's  system,  ignored  Judaism,  and  in  its  stead  employed  the 
more  of  eastern  and  western  heathenism.  The  Gnostic  syncre- 
tism, however,  differs  materially  from  both  the  Philonic  and  the 
Neo-Platonic  by  taking  up  Christianity,  of  which  Philo  was 
wholly  ignorant,  and  which  the  Neo-Platonists  directly  or  indi- 
rectly opposed.  This  the  Gnostics  regarded  as  the  highest  stage 
of  the  development  of  religion,  though  they  so  corrupted  it  by 
the  admixture  of  foreign  matter,  as  to  destroy  its  identity. 

Gnosticism  is,  therefore,  the  grandest  and  most  comprehensive 
form  of  speculative  religious  syncretism  known  to  history.  It 
consists  of  Oriental  mj^sticism,  Greek  philosophy,  Alexandrian, 
Philonic,  and  Cabbalistic  Judaism,  and  Christian  ideas  of  salva- 
tion, not  merely  mechanically  compiled,  but,  as  it  were,  che- 
mically combined.  At  least  in  its  fairly  developed  form  in  the 
Yalentinian  system,  it  is,  in  its  way,  a  wonderful  structure  of 
speculative  or  rather  intuitive  thought,  and  at  the  same  time  an 
artistic  work  of  the  creative  fancy,  a  Christian  mythological  epic. 
The  old  world  here  rallied  all  its  energies,  to  make  out  of  its 
diverse  elements  some  new  thing,  and  to  oppose  to  the  real,  sub- 
stantial universalism  of  the  catholic  church  an  ideal,  shadowy 
universalism  of  speculation.  But  this  fusion  of  all  systems 
served  in  the  end  only  to  hasten  the  dissolution  of  eastern  and 
western  heathenism,  while  the  Christian  element  came  forth 
purified  and  strengthened  from  the  crucible. 

To  their  speculative  zeal  the  Gnostics,  at  least  in  some  cases, 
added  a  practical  moral  feeling,  a  sense  of  sin,  stimulated  by 
Christianity,  but  overstrained,  so  as  to  lead  them,  in  bold  con- 
trast with  the  pagan  deification  of  nature,  to  ascribe  nature  to 
the  devil,  to  abhor  the  body  as  the  seat  of  evil,  and  to  practise, 
therefore,  extreme  austerities  upon  themselves.  This  jiraetical 
feature  is  made  prominent  by  Mohler,  the  Eoman   Catholic 


§  71.      THE   SYSTEM   OF   GNOSTICISM.  225 

divine.  But  Moliler  goes  quite  too  far,  when  he  derives  the 
whole  phenomenon  of  Gnosticism  (which  he  wrongly  views  as 
a  forerunner  of  Protestantism)  directly  and  immediately  from 
Christianity.  He  represents  it  as  a  hyper-Christianity,  an  exag- 
gerated contempt  for  the  world,  which,  when  seeking  for  itself 
a  speculative  basis,  gathered  from  older  .philosophemes,  theo- 
sophies,  and  mythologies,  all  it  could  use  for  its  purpose. 

The  flourishing  period  of  the  Gnostic  schools  was  the  second 
century.  In  the  sixth  century  only  faint  traces  of  them  remained ; 
3"et  some  Gnostic  and  especially  Manichaean  ideas  continue  to 
appear  in  several  heretical  sects  of  the  middle  ages,  such  as  the 
Priscillianists,  the  Paulicians,  the  Bogomiles,  and  the  Catharists ; 
and  even  the  history  of  modern  theological  and  philosophical 
speculation,  at  least  in  Germany,  shows  kindred  tendencies. 

The  number  of  the  Gnostics  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain.  We 
find  them  in  almost  all  portions  of  the  ancient  church ;  chiefly 
where  Christianity  came  into  close  contact  with  Judaism  and 
heathenism,  as  in  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Asia  Minor ;  then  in  Eome, 
the  rendezvous  of  all  forms  of  truth  and  falsehood;  in  Gaul, 
where  they  were  opposed  by  Irenaeus ;  and  in  Africa,  where  they  . 
were  attacked  by  TertuUian,  and  afterwards  by  Augustine,  who 
was  himself  a  Manichaean  for  several  years.  They  found  most 
iavor  with  the  educated,  and  threatened  to  lead  astray  the  teach- 
ers of  the  church.  But  they  could  gain  no  foothold  among  the 
people ;  indeed,  as  esoterics,  they  stood  aloof  from  the  masses ; 
and  fheir  philosophical  societies  were  no  doubt  rarely  as  large  as 
the  catholic  congregations. 

§  71.  The  System  of  Gnosticism. 

Gnosticism  is  a  heretical  philosophy  of  religion,  or,  more 
exactly,  a  mythological  theosophy,  which  reflects  intellectually 
the  peculiar  fermenting  state  of  that  remarkable  age  of  transition 
from  the'  heathen  to  the  Christian  order  of  things.  If  it  were 
merely  an  unintelligible  congeries  of  puerile  absurdities  and 
impious  blasphemies,  as  it  is  grotesquely  portrayed  by  older 

15 


226  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

historians,  it  would  not  have  fascinated  so  many  vigorous  intel- 
lects and  produced  such  a  long-continued  agitation  in  the  ancient 
church.  It  is  an  attempt  to  solve  some  of  the  deepest  metaphy- 
sical and  theological  problems.  It  deals  with  the  great  antitheses 
of  God  and  world,  spirit  and  matter,  idea  and  phenomenon ;  and 
endeavors  to  unlock  the  mystery  of  the  origin  of  evil,'  and  the 
whole  question  of  the  rise,  development,  and  end  of  the  world. 

In  form  and  method  it  is,  as  already  observed,  more  Oriental 
than  Grecian.  The  Gnostics,  in  their  daring  attempt  to  unfold 
the  mysteries  of  an  upper  world,  disdained  the  trammels  of  reason 
and  resorted  to  direct  spiritual  intuition.  Hence  they  speculate 
not  so  much  in  logical  and  dialectic  mode,  as  in  an  imaginative, 
semi-poetic  way,  and  they  clothe  their  ideas  not  in  the  simple, 
clear,  and  sober  language  of  reflection,  but  in  the  many-colored, 
fantastic,  mythological  dress  of  type,  symbol,  and  allegory.  Thus 
monstrous  nonsense  and  the  most  absurd  conceits  are  chaotically 
mingled  up  with  profound  thoughts  and  poetic  intuitions. 

The  liighest  source  of  knowledge,  with  these  heretics,  was  a 
secret  tradition,  in  contrast  with  the  open,  popular  tradition  of  the 
catholic  church.  In  this  respect  they  differ  from  more  recent 
sects,  which  generally  discard  tradition  altogether  and  appeal  to 
the  Bible  only,  as  understood  by  themselves.  They  appealed 
also  to  apocryphal  documents,  which  arose  in  the  second  century 
in  great  numbers,  under  eminent  names  of  apostolic  or  pre-Chris- 
tian times.  Epiphanius,  in  his  26th  Ileresy,  counts  the  apocrypha 
of  the  Gnostics  by  thousands,  and  Irenaeus  found  amoirg  the 
Yalentinians  alone  a  countless  multitude  of  such  writings."  And 
finally,  when  it  suited  their  purpose,  the  Gnostics  cmploj'cd  single 
portions  of  the  Bible,  without  being  able  to  agree  cither  as  to  the 
extent  or  the  interpretation  of  the  same.  The  Old  Testament 
they  generally  rejected,  either  entirely,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Mar- 
cionitcs  and  the  Manichacans,  or  at  least  in  great  part ;  and  in  the 
New  Testament  they  preferred  certain  books  or  portions,  such  as 

'  riiiSci'  TO  KaKdv. 

"^  Adv.  haer.  I.  C  20.  §  1 :  'A^iSjiroi/  TrX^lSoj  aiTOK(ii<pt>}v  kuI  vd^uv  ypatpMV,  i"f  airoi  lirXa- 
ciw,  napciai^'ipovnv  eii  Karnn^jj^tn  nuf  dvot'iTooy  Kai  ra  rrjy  d^ij^ii'aj  fih  miora^ivwv  ypti/i/iara. 


§   71.      THE  SYSTEM   OF   GNOSTICISM.  227 

the  Gospel  of  John,  witli  its  profound  spiritnal  intuitions,  and 
either  rejected  the  other  books,  or  wrested  them  to  suit  their  ideas, 
Marcion,  for  example,  thus  mutilated  the  Gospel  of  Luke,  and 
received  in  addition  to  it  only  ten  of  Paul's  Epistles,  thus  substi- 
tuting an  arbitrary  canon  of  eleven  books  for  the  catholic  Testa- 
ment of  twenty-seven.  In  interpretation  they  adopted,  even  with 
far  less  moderation  than  Philo,  the  most  arbitrary  and  extrava- 
gant allegorical  principles ;  despising  the  letter  as  sensuous,  and 
the  laws  of  language  and  exegesis  as  fetters  of  the  mind.  The 
number  30  in  the  New  Testament,  for  instance,  particularly  in 
the  life  of  Jesus,  is  made  to  denote  the  number  of  the  Yalentinian 
aeons ;  and  the  lost  sheep  in  the  parable  is  Achamoth.  Even  to 
heathen  authors,  to  the  poems  of  Homer,  Aratus,  Anacreon,  they 
applied  this  method,  and  discovered  in  these  works  the  deepest 
Gnostic  mysteries.^  They  gathered  from  the  whole  field  of  ancient 
mythology,  astronomy,  physics,  and  magic,  everything  which 
could  serve  in  any  way  to  support  their  fancies. 

The  common  characteristics  of  all  the  Gnostic  systems  are  (1) 
Dualism ;  the  assumption  of  an  eternal  antagonism  between  God 
and  matter.  (2)  The  demiurgic  notion;  the  separation  of  the 
creator  of  the  world  or  the  demiurgos  from  the  proper  God.  (3) 
Docetism ;  the  resolution  of  the  human  element  in  the  person  of 
the  Eedeemer  into  mere  deceptive  appearance.' 

We  will  endeavor  now  to  present  a  clear  and  connected  view 
of  the  theoretical  and  practical  system  of  Gnosticism  in  general 
as  it  comes  before  us  in  its  more  fully  developed  forms. 

1.  The  Gnostic  theology  revolves  about  the  conceptions  of 
God,  matter,  demiurge,  and  Christ. 

It  starts  from  absolute  primal  being.  God  is  the  unfathomable 
abyss,'  locked  up  within  himself,  without  beginning,  unnamable, 
and  incomprehensible ;  on  the  one  hand  infinitely  exalted  above 
every  existence,  yet  on  the  other  hand  the  original  aeon,  the  sum 
of  all  ideas  and  spiritual  powers.  Basilides  would  not  ascribe 
even  existence  to  him,  and  thus,  like  Hegel,  starts  from  absolute 
nonentity. 

'  Hippol.  Philos.  rV.  46,  V.  8,  13,  20.  "  A '.--;-,-,  ciiiracr/m.  « Bv^ds. 


228  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

But  tlie  abyss  opens ;  God  enters  upon  a  process  of  develop- 
ment, and  sends  forth  from  his  bosom  the  several  aeons ;  that  is,, 
the  attributes  and  unfolded  powers  of  his  nature,  the  ideas  of  the 
eternal  spirit-world,  such  as  mind,  reason,  wisdom,  power,  truth, 
life.'  These  emanate  from  the  absolute  in  a  certain  order,  accord- 
ing to  Valentine  in  pairs  with  sexual  polarity.  The  further  they 
go  from  the  great  source,  the  poorer  and  weaker  they  become. 
Besides  the  notion  of  emanation,''  the  Gnostics  employed  also,  to 
illustrate  the  self-revelation  of  the  absolute,  the  figure  of  the 
evolution  of  numbers  from  an  original  unit,  or  of  utterance  in 
tones  gradually  diminishing  to  the  faint  echo.'  The  cause  of  the 
procession  of  the  aeons  is,  with  some,  as  with  Valentine,  the  self- 
limiting  love  of  God ;  with  others,  metaphysical  necessity.  The 
whole  body  of  aeons  forms  the  ideal  world,  or  light-world,  or 
si^iritual  fulness,  pleroma.* 

Essentially  different  from  this  is  the  material  visible  world,  in 
•which  the  principle  of  evil  reigns.  This  cannot  proceed  from 
God ;  else  he  were  the  author  of  evil.  It  must  come  from  an 
opposite  principle.  This  is  matter,^  which  stands  in  eternal  oppo- 
sition to  God  and  the  ideal  world.  The  Syrian  Gnostics,  and 
still  more  the  Manichaeans,  agreed  wnth  Parsism  in  conceiving 
matter  as  an  intrinsically  evil  substance,  the  raging  kingdom  of 
Satan,  at  irreconcilable  warfare  with  the  kingdom  of  light.  The 
Alexandrian  Gnostics  followed  more  the  Platonic  idea  of  the 
liXy;,  and  conceived  this  as  xsvw/xa,  emptiness,  in  contrast  with 
the  divine  vital  fulness  or  "TrXvjpwfj^a,  or  as  the  (X17  ov,  related  to 
the  divine  being  as  shadow  to  light,  and  forming  the  dark  limit, 
beyond  which  the  mind  cannot  pass.  This  matter  is  in  itself 
dead,  biit  becomes  animated  by  a  union  with  the  plcroma,  which 
again  is  variously  described.  In  the  Manichaean  system  there 
are  powers  of  darkness,  which  seize  by  force  some  parts  of  the 
kingdom  of  light.  But  usuall}^  the  union  is  made  to  proceed 
from  above.     The  last  link  in  the  chain  of  divine  aeons,  either 

'  NuCf ,  XiJyof,  <ro(fiin,  ^Ci-a/jfj,  dXij^tin,  foji';,  etC.  ^Tlpo3o^fi. 

^  Basilides  and  Satuniiiius  use  the  former  illustration;  Marcus  uses  the  latter. 

*  HXnptOjin,  as  opposed  to  Kivotjia.  *  'YAt;. 


§    71.      THE   SYSTEM   OF   GNOSTICISM.  229 

too  weak  to  keep  its  liold  on  the  ideal  world,  or  seized  witli  a 
sinful  passion  for  the  embrace  of  the  infinite  abyss,  falls  as  a 
spark  of  light  into  the  dark  chaos  of  matter,  and  imparts  to  it  a 
germ  of  divine  life,  but  in  this  bondage  feels  a  painful  longing 
after  redemption,  with  which  the  whole  world  of  aeons  sympa- 
thizes. This  weakest  aeon  is  called  by  Valentine  the  lower  wis- 
dom, or  Achamoth,'  and  marks  the  extreme  point,  where  sjoirit 
must  surrender  itself  to  matter,  where  the  infinite  must  enter  into 
the  finite,  and  thus  form  a  basis  for  the  real  world.  The  mj' th 
of  Achamoth  is  grounded  in  the  thought,  that  the  finite  is  incom- 
patible with  the  absolute,  yet  in  some  sense  demands  it,  to 
account  for  itself. 

Here  now  comes  in  the  third  principle  of  the  Gnostic  specula- 
tion, namely,  the  world-maker,  commonly  called  the  Demiurge,* 
termed  by  Basilides  Archon  or  world-ruler,  by  the  Ophites,  Jal- 
dabaoth,  or  gon  of  chaos.  He  is  a  creature  of  the  fallen  aeon, 
formed  of  physical  material,  and  thus  standing  between  God  and 
matter.  He  makes  out  of  matter  the  visible  sensible  world,  and 
rules  over  it.  He  has  his  throne  in  the  planetary  heavens,  and 
presides  over  time  and  over  the  sidereal  spirits.  Astrological 
influences  were  generally  ascribed  to  him.  He  is  the  God  of 
Judaism,  the  Jehovah,  who  imagines  himself  to  be  the  supreme 
and  only  God,  But  in  the  further  development  of  this  idea  the 
systems  differ ;  the  anti- Jewish  Gnostics,  Marcion  and  the  Ophites, 
represent  the  Demiurge  as  an  insolent  being,  resisting  the  pur- 
poses of  God,  while  the  Judaizing  Gnostics,  Basilides  and  Valen- 
tine, make  him  a  restricted,  unconscious  instrument  of  God  to 
prepare  the  way  for  redemption. 

Redemption  itself,  that  is,  the  liberation  of  the  light-spirit  from 
the  chains  of  dark  matter,  is  effected  by  Christ,  the  most  perfect 
aeon,  who  is  the  mediator  of  return  from  the  sensible  phenomenal 
world  to  the  supersensuous  ideal  world,  just  as  the  Demiurge  is 
the  mediator  of  apostasy  from  the  pleroma  to  the  kenoma.     This 


1  'H  KOTO}  cTO(pio,  JTi?2Sn  01"  n^?a"'3S^  the  Chaldaic  form  of  the  Hebrew  n?2^n 

:  t1  ■  -5  T  :  T  • 

'  Arjuiovpyos,  a  term  used  by  Plato  in  a  similar  sense. 


230  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

redeeming  aeon,  called  by  Yalentine  o'wT-;;p  or  'IriCoiJ.c,  descends 
througli  the  sphere  of  heaven,  and  assumes  an  ethereal  appearance; 
of  a  body ;  according  to  another  view,  unites  himself  with  the 
man  Jesus,  or  with  the  Jewish  Messiah,  at  the  baptism,  and  for- 
sakes him  again  at  the  passion.  At  all  events  the  redeemer, 
however  conceived  in  other  respects,  is  allowed  no  actual  contact 
with  sinful  matter.  His  human  birth,  his  sufierings  and  death, 
are  explained  by  Gnosticism  after  the  manner  of  the  Indian 
mythology,  as  a  deceptive  appearance,  a  transient  vision,  a  spec- 
tral form,  which  he  assumed  only  to  reveal  himself  to  the  sen- 
suous nature  of  man.  Eeduced  to  a  clear  jDhilosophical  definition, 
the  Gnostic  Christ  is  really  nothing  more  than  the  ideal  spirit  of 
man  himself,  as  in  the  "  Leben  Jesu  "  of  Strauss.  The  Holy  Ghost 
is  commonly  conceived  as  a  subordinate  aeon.  The  central  fact  in 
the  work  of  Christ  is  the  communication  of  the  Gnosis  to  a  small 
circle  of  the  initiated,  prompting  and  enabling  them  to  strive 
with  clear  consciousness  after  the  ideal  world  and  the  original 
unity.  According  to  Valentine  the  heavenly  Soter  brings 
Achamoth  after  innumerable  sufierings  into  the  pleroma,  and 
unites  himself  with  her — the  most  glorious  aeon  with  the  lowest 
— in  an  eternal  spirit  marriage.  With  this  all  disturbance  in  the 
heaven  of  aeons  is  allayed,  and  a  blessed  harmony  and  inexpres- 
sible delight  are  restored,  in  which  all  spiritual  (pneumatic)  men, 
or  genuine  Gnostics,  share.  Matter  is  at  last  entirely  consumed 
by  a  fire  breaking  out  from  its  dark  bosom. 

2.  The  anthropology  of  the  Gnostics  corresponds  with  their 
theology.  They  see  in  man  a  microcosm,  consisting  of  spirit, 
body,  and  soul,  reflecting  the  three  principles,  God,  matter,  and 
demiurge,  though  in  very  different  degrees.  They  make  three 
classes  of  men :  the  spiritual,^  in  whom  the  divine  element,  a 
spark  of  light  fi'om  the  ideal  world,  predominates ;  the  bodily, 
carnal,  or  material,^  in  whom  matter,  the  gross  sensuous  princi- 
ple, rules ;  and  the  j^sychical,^  in  whom  the  demiurgic,  quasi- 
divine  principle,  the  mean  between  the  two  preceding,  prevails. 


§   71.      THE   SYSTEM   OF   GNOSTICISM.  231 

These  three  classes  they  frequently  identified  with  the  adherents 
of  the  three  religions  respectively ;  the  spiritual  with  the  Chris- 
tians, the  carnal  with  the  heathens,  the  psj^chical  with  the  Jews. 
But  they  also  made  the  same  distinction  among  the  professors  of 
any  one  religion,  particularly  among  the  Christians ;  and  they 
regarded  themselves  as  the  genuine  spiritual  men  in  the  full 
sense  of  the  word,  while  they  looked  upon  the  great  mass  of 
Christians^  as  only  psychical,  not  able  to  rise  from  blind  faith  to 
true  knowledge,  too  weak  for  the  good,  and  too  tender  for  the 
evil,  longing  for  the  divine,  yet  unable  to  attain  it,  and  thus 
hovering  between  the  pleroma  of  the  ideal  world  and  the  kenoma 
of  the  sensual. 

Ingenious  as  this  thought  is,  it  is  just  the  basis  of  that  unchris- 
tian distinction  of  esoteric  and  exoteric  religion,  and  that  pride  of 
knowledge,  in  which  Gnosticism  runs  directly  counter  to  the 
Christian  principle  of  humility  and  love. 

3.  We  pass  to  the  ethics  of  Grnosticism.  All  these  heretics 
agree  in  disparaging  the  divinely  created  body  and  over-rating 
the  spirit,  and  in  the  pride  naturally  connected  with  such  an  error. 
Beyond  this  we  perceive  among  them  two  opposite  tendencies  : 
a  gloomy  asceticism,  and  a  frivolous  antinomianism  ;  both  ground- 
ed, however,  in  the  dualistic  principle,  in  a  false  ascription  of 
evil  to  matter  and  of  nature  to  the  devil,  and  each  extreme  fre- 
quently running  into  the  other,  as  the  Nicolaitan  maxim  in  regard 
to  the  abuse  of  the  flesh^  was  made  to  serve  asceticism  first  and 
then  libertinism. 

The  more  earnest  Gnostics,  like  Marcion,  Saturninus,  and 
Tatian,  and  the  Manichaeans  also,  felt  uncomfortable  in  the  sen- 
suous, corruptible,  and  perishing  world,  ruled  by  the  demiurge 
and  by  Satan ;  they  abhorred  the  body  as  formed  from  it,  and  for- 
bade the  use  of  certain  kinds  of  food  and  all  nuptial  intercourse, 
as  an  adulteration  of  themselves  with  sinful  matter ;  like  the 
errorists  noticed  by  Paul  in  his  pastoral  Epistles.^     They  thus 

'  Oi  noWo!. 

'  Ad  KaraxpHa^ai  rij  aapKi ;  the  flesh  must  be  abused  to  be  conquered. 
*  Comp.  1  Tim.  iv.  3. 


232  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

confounded  sin  with  matter,  and  vainly  imagined  that,  matter 
being  dropped,  sin,  its  accident,  would  fall  vnih  it.  Instead  of 
hating  sin  only,  wliich  God  has  not  made,  they  hated  the  world, 
which  he  had  made. 

The  other  class  of  Gnostics,  as  the  Nicolaitans,  the  Ophites,  the 
Carpocratians,  and  the  Antitactes,  in  a  proud  conceit  of  the  exal- 
tation of  the  spirit  above  matter,  or  even  on  the  diabolical  prin- 
ciple, that  sensuality  must  be  overcome  by  indulging  it,  bade  defi- 
ance to  all  moral  laws,  and  gave  themselves  up  to  the  most  shame- 
less licentiousness.  It  is  no  great  thing,  said  they,  according  to 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  to  restrain  lust ;  but  it  is  surely  a  great 
thing  not  to  be  conquered  by  lust,  when  one  indulges  it.  Accord- 
ing to  Epiphanius  there  were  even  Gnostic  sects  in  Eg3^pt, 
which  starting  from  a  filthy,  naturalistic  pantheism,  and  identi- 
fying Christ  with  the  generative  powers  of  nature,  practised 
debauchery  as  a  mode  of  worship,  and  after  having,  as  they 
thought,  offered  and  collected  all  their  strength,  blasplicmously 
exclaimed :  I  am  Christ.  From  these  pools  of  sensuahty  and 
Satanic  pride  arose  the  malaria  of  a  whole  hterature,  of  which, 
however,  fortunately,  nothing  more  than  a  few  names  has  come 
down  to  us. 

4.  In  cultus,  the  Gnostic  docetism  and  hyper-spiritualism  led 
consistently  to  naked  simplicity,  as  in  Marcion  ;  sometimes  to  the 
rejection  of  all  sacraments  and  outward  means  of  grace ;  if  not 
even,  as  in  the  Prodicians,  to  blasphemous  self-exaltation  above 
all  that  is  called  God  and  worship.^ 

But  with  this  came  also  the  opposite  extreme  of  a  symbolic 
and  mystic  pomp,  especially  in  the  sect  of  the  Marcosians. 
These  Marcosians  held  to  a  two-fold  baptism,  that  applied  to 
the  human  Jesus,  the  Messiah  of  the  psychical,  and  that  admi- 
nistered to  the  heavenly  Christ,  the  Messiah  of  the  spiritual ; 
they  decorated  the  baptistry  like  a  banquet-hall ;  and  they  first 
introduced  extreme  unction.  As  early  as  the  second  century 
the  Basilidcans  celebrated  the  feast  of  Epiphany.    The  Simonians 

'  Comp.  2  Thcsa.  ii.  4. 


§    72.      THE   SEVERAL   SCHOOLS   OF   GNOSTICISM.  233 

and  Carpocratians  used  images  of  Christ  and  of  tlieir  religious 
heroes  in  their  worship.  The  Valentinians  and  Ophites  sang  in 
hymns  the  deep  longing  of  Achamoth  for  redemption  from  the 
bonds  of  matter.  Bardesanes  is  known  as  the  first  Syrian  hymn- 
writer.  Many  Gnostics,  following  their  patriarch,  Simon,  gave 
themselves  to  magic,  and  introduced  their  arts  into  their  worship ; 
as  the  Marcosians  did  in  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  supper. 

6.  Of  the  outward  organization  of  the  Gnostics  (with  the 
exception  of  the  Manichaeans,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  here- 
after) we  can  say  little.  Their  aim  was  to  resolve  Christianity 
into  a  magnificent  speculation ;  the  practical  business  of  organi- 
zation was  foreign  to  their  exclusively  intellectual  bent.  Ter- 
tullian  charges  them  with  an  entire  want  of  order  and  discipline.' 
They  formed,  not  so  much  a  sect  or  party,  as  a  multitude  of  phi- 
losophical schools.  Many  were  unwilling  to  separate  at  all  from 
the  catholic  church,  but  assumed  in  it,  as  theosophists,  the 
highest  spiritual  rank.  Some  were  even  clothed  with  ecclesias- 
tical office,  as  we  must  no  doubt  infer  from  the  fiftieth  apostolic 
canon,  where  it  is  said,  "with  evident  reference  to  the  gloomy, 
perverse  asceticism  of  the  Gnostics  :  "  If  a  bishop,  a  priest,  or  a 
deacon,  or  any  ecclesiastic  abstain  from  marriage,  from  flesh,  or 
from  wine,  not  for  practice  in  self-denial,  but  from  disgust,^  for- 
getting that  God  made  everything  very  good,  that  he  made  even 
the  male  and  the  female,  in  fact,  even  blaspheming  the  creation  f 
he  shall  either  retract  his  error,  or  be  deposed  and  cast  out  of 
the  church.  A  layman  also  shall  be  treated  in  like  manner." 
Here  we  perceive  the  polemical  attitude,  which  the  catholic 
church  was  compelled  to  assume  even  towards  the  better  Gnos- 
tics. 

§  72.  The  Several  Schools  of  Gnosticism. 

The  arbitrary  and  unbalanced  subjectivity  of  the  Gnostic 
speculation  naturally  23roduced  a  multitude  of  schools.  These 
Gnostic  schools  have  been  variously  classified. 

1  De  praescr.  liaeret.,  C.  41.         2  BSsXvpia.        ^  B^aafnjiiav  Sia/3d\Xet  rfiv  6flniovpyiav» 


234:  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

Geographically  they  may  be  reduced  to  two  great  families,  the 
Egyptian  or  Alexandrian,  and  the  Syrian,  which  are  also  intrinsi- 
cally dififerent.  In  the  former  (Basilides,  Valentine,  the  Ophites), 
Platonism  and  the  emanation  theory  prevail,  in  the  latter  (Satur- 
ninus,  Bardesanes,  Tatian),  Parsism  and  dualism.  Then,  distinct 
in  many  respects  from  both  these  is  the  school  of  Marcion,  who 
sprang  neither  from  Egypt  nor  from  Syria,  but  from  Asia 
Minor. 

Examined  further,  with  reference  to  its  doctrinal  character. 
Gnosticism  appears  in  three  forms,  distinguished  by  the  prepon- 
derance of  the  heathen,  the  Jewish,  and  the  Christian  elements 
respectively  in  its  syncretism.  The  Simonians,  Nicolaitans, 
Ophites,  Carpocratians,  Prodicians,  Antitactes,  and  Manichaeans 
belong  to  a  paganizing  class ;  Cerinthus,  Basilides,  Valentine,  and 
Justin  (as  also  the  Pseudo-Clementine  Homilies,  though  these 
are  more  properly  Ebionistic),  to  a  Judaizing ;  Saturninus, 
Tatian,  Marcion,  and  the  Encratites,  to  a  Christianizing  division. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  here,  that  this  distinction  is  only 
relative;  all  tlie  Gnostic  systems  being,  in  fact,  predominantly 
heathen  in  their  character,  and  essentially  opposed  alike  to  the 
pure  Judaism  of  the  Old  Testament  and  to  the  Christianity  of  the 
New.  The  Judaism  of  the  so-called  Judaizing  Gnostics  is  only 
of  an  apocryphal  sort,  whether  of  the  Alexandrian  or  the  Cab- 
balistic tinge. 

The  ethical  point  of  view,  from  which  the  division  might  as 
well  be  made,  although  it  has  not  been  done  heretofore,  would 
give  likewise  three  main  branches :  the  speculative  or  theosophic 
Gnostics  (Basilides,  Valentine),  the  practical  and  ascetic  (Marcion, 
Saturninus,  Tatian),  and  the  antinomian  and  libertine  (Simo- 
nians, Nicolaitans,  Ophites,  Carpocratians,  Antitactes). 

Having  thus  presented  tlic  general  character  of  Gnosti- 
cism, and  pointed  out  its  main  branches,  we  shall  follow,  if 
possible,  the  chronological  order  in  describing  the  several 
schools,  beginning  with  those  which  date  from  the  age  of  the 
apostles. 

1.    SoroN  and   the  SiMONlANS.     That  Simon  Magus  gave 


§    72.      THE   SEVERAL   SCHOOLS   OF   GNOSTICISM.  235 

himself  out  for  a  sort  of  emanation  of  deity/  made  a  great  noise 
among  the  half  pagan,  half  Jewish  Samaritans  by  his  sorceries, 
was  baptized  by  Philip  about  the  year  40,  but  terribly  rebuked 
by  Peter  for  hypocrisy  and  abuse  of  holy  things  to  sordid  ends, 
are  historical  facts  settled  by  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (ch.  8). 
This  man  thus  affords  the  first  instance  in  church  history  of  a  con- 
fused syncretism  in  union  with  magical  arts  ;  and  so  far  as  this 
goes,  the  church  fathers  are  right  in  styling  him  the  patriarch, 
or,  in  the  words  of  Irenaeus,  the  "magister"  and  "progenitor" 
of  all  heretics,  and  of  the  Gnostics  in  particular.  But  his  life  and 
his  teachings,  especially  his  interview  with  the  apostle  Peter  in 
Antioch  and  Eome,  were  fabulously  garnished  at  an  early  day, 
chiefly  by  the  romantic  works  of  pseudo-Clement.^  He  is  said 
to  have  declared  himself  an  incarnation  of  the  creative  world- 
spirit,  and  his  female  companion  Helena,  the  incarnation  of  the 
receptive  world-soul.  Here  we  have  the  Grnostic  conception  of 
the  syzygy.  A  detailed  analysis  of  his  scattered  and  incoherent 
ideas  is  given  by  the  author  of  the  oft-mentioned  "  Philo- 
sophoumena."  ^  Besides  Simon,  two  other  contemporaneous 
Samaritans,  Dositheus  and  Menander,  bore  the  reputation  of 
heresiarchs. 

The  sect  of  the  Simonians,  which  continued  into  the  third 
century,  took  its  name,  if  not  its  rise,  from  Simon  Magus,  wor- 
shijDped  him  as  a  redeeming  genius,  chose,  like  the  Cainites,  the 
most  infamous  characters  of  the  Old  Testament  for  its  heroes, 
and  was  immoral  in  its  princij)les.  The  name,  however,  is  used 
in  a  very  indefinite  sense,  for  various  sorts  of  Gnostics. 

2.  The  NicoLAiTANS,  likewise  antinomian,  are  derived  from 
the  Nicolaitans  of  the  times  of  St.  John,*  and  more  particularly 


'  'H  ivi/afttg  Tov  5iov  h  jisydXri, 

2  The  report  of  Justin  Martyr,  Apol.  I.  26  and  56,  that  Simon  went  to  Rome 
under  Claudius,  and  received  divine  honors  from  his  followers,  who  erected  a  statue 
to  Simo  Sandus  on  the  island  of  the  Tiber,  rests  on  a  mistake.  For  this  statue, 
which  was  in  fact  found  in  1574  in  the  place  described,  turned  out  to  be  a  statue  of 
the  Sabine-Roman  divinity,  Semo  Sawus  or  Sangus,  of  whom  the  Greek  Justin  pro- 
bably never  heard. 

3  From  a  work  attributed  to  Simon,  entitled:  'ArroAatrij  ficyaAr/.        ^  j^ev.  ii.  G,  15. 


236  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

from  Nicolas,  one  of  the  seven  deacons  of  tlic  cliurcli  of  Jeru- 
salem/ who  is  supposed  to  have  apostatized  from  the  true  faith, 
and  to  have  laid  down  the  dangerous  principle  that  the  flesh 
must  be  abused,^  that  is,  at  least  as  understood  by  his  disciples, 
one  must  make  the  whole  round  of  sensuality,  to  become  its  jDer- 
fect  master. 

3.  Cerinthus  ^  appeared  towards  the  close  of  the  first  centur}^, 
in  Asia  Minor,  and  according  to  Irenaeus  he  was  opposed  by  the 
aged  apostle  John.  In  J^s  view  of  the  validity  of  the  law  and  of 
the  millennial  kingdom  he  was  strongly  Judaistic,  so  that  he  might 
be  counted  among  the  Ebionites,  did  he  not,  in  true  Gnostic 
style,  separate  the  world-maker  from  God,  and  represent  him  as 
a  subordinate,  intermediate  being.  In  his  Christology  he  sepa- 
rates the  earthly  man  Jesus,  who  was  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary, 
from  the  heavenly  Christ,*  who  descended  upon  the  man  Jesus 
in  the  form  of  a  dove  at  the  baptism  in  the  Jordan,  imparted  to 
him  the  genuine  knowledge  of  God  and  the  power  of  miracles, 
but  forsook  him  in  the  passion,  to  rejoin  him  only  at  the  commg 
of  the  Messianic  kingdom  of  glory.  The  early  opponents  of  the 
Apocalypse,  like  Caius  of  Eome,  foolishly  considered  Cerinthus 
the  author  of  that  book. 

4.  The  origin  of  the  Ophites,^  or,  in  Ilebrew,  N.vassexes,^  i.  e. 
serpent-brethren,  or  serpent-worshippers,  is  unknown,  and  is 
placed  by  Mosheim  and  others  before  the  time  of  Christ.  In 
any  case,  their  system  is  of  purely  heathen  stamp.  The  sect 
still  existed  as  late  as  the  sixth  century ;  for  in  530  Justinian 
passed  laws  against  it.  The  accounts  of  their  worship  of  the 
serpent  rest,  indeed,  on  uncertain  data;  but  their  name  itself 
comes  from  their  ascribing  special  import  to  the  serpent  as  the 
symbol  of  the  higher  wisdom.  They  regarded  the  fall  of  Adam 
as  the  transition  from  the  state  of  unconscious  bondage  to  the 
state  of  conscious  judgment  and  freedom,''  therefore  the  necessary 
entrance  to  the  good,  and  a  noble  advance  of  the  human  spirit. 

'  Acts  vi.  5.  2  ^jj-  Kara^prjc^ai  rg  capKt.  3  KtipuSn?. 

<  'O  avo)  Xpiarui,  *  'O^iavoi.  «  From  cn3.  ^  Comp.  Gen.  L  26. 


§   72.      THE   SEVERAL  SCHOOLS  OF   GNOSTICISM.  237 

Witli  this  view  is  connected  their  violent  opposition  to  the  Old 
Testament.  Jaldabaoth/  as  they  termed  the  God  of  the  Jews 
and  the  creator  of  the  world,  they  represented  as  a  malicious, 
misanthropic  being.  In  other  respects  their  doctrine  strongly 
resembles  the  Yalentinian  system,  except  that  it  is  much  more 
pantheistic,  unchristian,  and  immoral,  and  far  less  developed. 

The  Ophites  again  branch  out  in  several  sects,  such  as  the 
Sethites,  who  considered  the  third  son  of  Adam  the  first  pneu- 
matic man  and  the  forerunner  of  Christ ;  the  Perates  or  Pera- 
ticajsts,  with  whose  views  the  "  Philosophoumena "  affords  us 
some  slight  acquaintance ;  and  the  kindred  Cainites,  who  pushed 
the  oppos'ition  to  sound  doctrine  to  the  extreme,  making  the  fra- 
tricide Cain  their  leader,  and  honoring  all  the  notorious  characters 
of  the  Old  Testament  as  genuine  spiritual  men  and  martyrs  to 
truth.  Among  the  apostles  they  found  the  true  gnosis  in  Judas 
Iscariot  alone,  who  betrayed  the  psychical  Messiah  with  good 
intent,  to  destroy  the  empire  of  the  God  of  the  Jews,  Thus  they 
perverted  the  Christian  history  of  salvation  into  the  very  oppo- 
site. No  wonder,  tliat  with  such  blasphemous  travesty  of  the 
Bible  history,  and  with  such  predilection  for  the  serj^ent  and  his 
seed,  the  most  unbridled  antinomianism,  which  changed  vice  into 
virtue,  went  hand  in  hand. 

5.  Basilides,^  teacher  at  Alexandria,  about  a.d.  125-140, 
produced  the  first  well  developed  system  of  Gnosis.  His 
system  is  very  peculiar,  especially  according  to  the  extended 
and  original  exhibition  of  it  in  the  Philosophoumena,  which 
deviates  in  many  respects  from  the  statements  of  Irenaeus,  Cle- 
ment of  Alexandria,  and  Epiphanius.  It  is  based  on  the  Egyp- 
tian astronomy  and  the  Pythagorean  numerical  symbolism.  It 
betrays  also  the  influence  of  Aristotle ;  but  Platonism,  the 
emanation  theory,  and  dualism  do  not  appear.  Basilides  starts 
from  the  most  abstract  notion  of  the  absolute,  to  which  lie 
denies  even  existence,  thinking  of  it  as  infinitely  above  all  that 
can  be  imagined  and  conceived.     This  ineffable  and  unnamable 

'  fi^nSl  i^'l^'i   product  of  chaoa.  2  BaaiWiSm. 


238  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

God,^  not  only  super-existent,  but  non-existent,^  first  forms  by 
his  creative  word  (not  by  emanation)  the  world-seed  or  world- 
embryo,'  that  is,  chaos,  from  which  the  world  developes  itself 
according  to  arithmetical  relations,  in  an  unbroken  order,  like  the 
many-colored  peacock  from  the  egg.  Everything  created  tends 
upwards  towards  God,  who,  himself  unmoved,  moves  all,'*  and 
by  the  charm  of  surpassing  beauty  attracts  all  to  himself.  In 
the  world-seed  Basilides  distinguishes  three  kinds  of  sonship,^ 
of  the  same  essence  with  the  non-existent  God,  but  growing 
wealvcr  in  the  more  remote  gradations ;  or  three  races  of  children 
of  God,  a  imeumatic,  a  psychic,  and  a  hylic.  The  first  sonship 
liberates  itself  immediately  from  the  world-seed,  rises  with  the 
lightning  speed  of  thought  to  God,  and  remains  there  as  the 
blessed  spirit- world,  the  pleroma.  It  embraces  the  seven  highest 
genii,^  which,  in  union  with  the  great  Father,  form  the  first 
ogdoad,  the  type  of  all  the  lower  circles  of  creation.  The 
second,  i^ioVrjcr,  with  the  help  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  it  pro- 
duces, and  who  bears  it  up,  as  the  wing  bears  the  bird,  strives  to 
follow  the  first,''  but  can  only  attain  the  impenetrable  firmament,® 
that  is  the  limit  of  the  pleroma,  and  could  endure  the  higher 
region  no  more  than  the  fish  the  mountain  air.  The  third  son- 
ship,  finally,  remains  fixed  in  the  world-seed,  and  in  need  of 
purification  and  redemption,  Next  Basilides  makes  two  archons 
or  world-rulers  (demiurges)  issue  from  the  world-seed.  The  first 
or  great  archon  creates  the  ethereal  world  or  the  upper  heaven, 
the  ogdoad,  as  it  is  called ;  the  second  is  the  maker  and  ruler  of 
the  lower  planetary  heaven  below  the  moon,  the  hebdomad. 
Basilides  supposed  in  all  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  heavens 
or  circles  of  creation,^  corresponding  to  the  days  of  the  year,  and 
designated  them  by  the  mystic  name  Abraxas,^"  which,  accorthng 
to  the  numerical  value  of  the  Greek  letters,  is  equal  to  865.^^   This 

'  'AjJliirroi,  (iKarovrf/moTOf.  '  'O  ovk  wv  Stdf.  '  Hiwirrrcpiiia, — a  Stoic  idea. 

*  AfiV^rof  KlvnTi'is.  *  Yi'iirijf  rpificpi'ii, 

*  No{5{,  Xdyof,  (fp6vTtaii,  oa(pia^  Sivajitf,  !iKaioaivt},  and  clprivii, 

''  Hence  it  is  called  ^i/iF/n/cn.  •  Ertpfu^n. 

"  Kn'iTtij,  dp^ni,  ^urn/uit,  l^ovaiat,  "  'A/Joa^iif,  Or  'A/Spao-iif. 

"  Thrice  a  =  3;  0=2;  p=100;  (r=200;  {'=00. 


§    72.      THE   SEVERAL   SCHOOLS   OF   GNOSTICISM.  239 

name  also  denotes  only  the  great  arclion.  It  afterwards  came  to 
be  used  as  a  magical  formula,  with,  all  sorts  of  strange  figures, 
the  Abraxas  gems. 

Each  of  the  two  archons,  however,  according  to  a  higher  ordi- 
nance, begets  a  son,  who  towers  far  above  his  father,  communi- 
cates to  him  the  knowledge  received  from  the  Holy  Ghost, 
concerning  the  upper  spirit- world  and  the  plan  of  redemption, 
and  leads  him  to  repentance.  With  this  begins  the  process  of 
the  redemption  or  return  of  the  sighing  children  of  Grod,  that  is, 
the  pneumatics,  to  the  supra-mundane  God.  This  is  effected  by 
Christianity,  and  ends  with  the  consummation,  the  apokatastasis, 
of  all  things.  Like  Valentine,  Basilides  also  properly  held  a 
threefold  Christ — the  son  of  the  first  archon,  the  son  of  the  second 
archon,  and  the  son  of  Mary.  But  all  these  are  at  bottom  the 
same  principle,  which  reclaims  the  sj)iritual  natures  from  the 
world-seed  to  the  original  unity.  The  passion  of  Christ  was 
necessary  to  remove  the  corporeal  and  psychical  elements,  which 
he  brought  with  him  from  the  a'^jy/^dxz  apx"<'<i.  His  body  returned, 
after  death,  into  a/xopqpia ;  his  soul  rose  from  the  grave,  and  stopped 
in  the  hebdomad,  or  planetary  heaven,  where  it  belongs ;  but  his 
spirit  soared,  perfectly  purified,  above  all  the  spheres  of  creation, 
to  the  blessed  first  uioVtjj  and  the  fellowship  of  the  non-existent  or 
hyper-existent  God.  In  the  same  way  with  Jesus,  the  first- 
fruits,  all  other  pneumatic  persons  must  rise  purified  to  the  place 
where  they  by  nature  belong,  and  abide  there.  For  all  that  con- 
tinues in  its  23lace,  is  imperishable ;  but  all  that  transgresses  its 
natural  limits,  is  perishable.  In  the  process  of  redemption  Basi- 
lides conceded  to  faith,  pistis,  more  importance  than  most  of  the 
Gnostics. 

In  his  moral  teaching  he  inculcated  a  moderate  asceticism, 
from  which,  however,  his  school  soon  departed.  He  used  some 
of  Paul's  Epistles  and  the  canonical  Gospels ;  quoting,  for 
example,  Jno.  i.  9,  to  identify  his  idea  of  the  world-seed  with 
John's  doctrine  of  the  Logos  as  the  light  of  the  world.  This  fact, 
brought  out  unexpectedly  by  the  newly  discovered  work  ( f 
Hippolytus,  is  a  welcome  testimony  to  the  genuineness  of  John's 


240  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

Gospel,  against  the  scepticism  of  the  school  of  Baur.  His  other 
authorities  were  chiefly  the  secret  tradition  of  the  apostle  Mat 
thias,  and  of  a  pretended  interpreter  of  Peter,  by  the  name  of 
Glaucias.  He  himself  wrote  twenty-four  exegetical  books.  His 
son  Isidore,  the  chief  of  his  disciples,  composed  a  system  of 
ethics.  The  Basilideans,  especially  in  the  W'est,  seem  to  have 
been  dualistic  and  docetistic  in  theory,  and  loose  in  practice. 
The  whole  life  of  Christ  was  to  them  a  mere  sham.  They  held 
it  prudent  to  repudiate  Christianity  in  times  of  persecution,  and 
practised  various  sorts  of  magic,  in  which  the  abraxas  gems  did 
them  service. 

6.  Contemporary  with  Basilides  under  Adrian,  was  Saturni- 
NUS  in  Antioch,  whose  system  is  distinguished  for  its  bold  dualism 
and  its  ascetic  severity. 

7.  Carpocrates  also  lived  under  Adrian,  probably  at  Alex- 
andria, and  founded  a  Gnostic  sect,  called  by  his  own  name, 
which  put  Christ  on  a  level  with  heathen  philosophers,  prided 
itself  on  its  elevation  above  all  the  popular  religions,  and  sank 
into  unbridled  immorality.  His  son  Epiphanes,  who  died  in 
his  youth,  was  worshipped  by  his  adherents  as  a  god.  Here  we 
have  the  worship  of  genius  in  league  with  the  emancipation  of 
the  flesh,  which  has  been  revived  in  modern  times  by  Strauss  and 
"  Young  Germany." 

8.  Valentine  ;  probably  of  Egyptian  Jewish  descent,  and 
Alexandrian  education,  who  taught  in  Home  about  A.D.  140,  and 
died  in  Cyprus  in  the  year  160,  is  the  author  of  the  most  pro- 
found and  luxuriant  of  the  Gnostic  systems,  and  the  one  at  the 
same  time  most  accurately  known  to  us;  the  one,  therefore, 
which  weighed  most  in  our  general  view  of  Gnosticism  in  the  pre- 
vious section.  In  his  theogonic  and  cosmogonic  epic,  as  his  sys- 
tem may  be  styled,  he  starts  from  the  eternal  primal  being,^  and 
makes  thirty  aeons  emanate  from  him  in  fifteen  pairs,^  according 
to  the  law  of  sexual  polarity,  in  three  gradations,  the  first  called 
the  ogdoad,  the  second  the  decad,  the  third  the  dodccad.    Some  dis- 

'  BiSuf    n-poTrdrup,  7rpoap;^i),  airoTTurwp.  i^i^vyot. 


§    72.      THE   SEVERAL   SCHOOLS   OF   GNOSTICISM.  241 

ciples  of  Valentine  allowed  even  the  universal  Father  a  spouse  or 
a-o^'jyog,  to  wit,  silence,  or  solitude,^  since  from  a  male  principle 
alone  nothing  could  spring.  He  begets  first  the  masculine,  j)ro- 
ductive  vouff  or  li-ovoysviis,  with  the  feminine,  receptive  akrj6sia ;  these 
two  then  produce  "Koyos  and  ^wrj,  and  these,  avSpwcroj  and  ixxk'^(fia. 
The  influence  of  the  fourth  Gospel  is  unmistakable  here,  though 
of  course  the  terminology  of  John  is  used  in  a  sense  very  differ- 
ent from  that  of  its  author.  These  three  syzygies  are  the  primal 
aeons,  to  whom  iJ^ovoysvr,s  and  dXr,'hsia  afterwards  add  a  new  pair, 
the  ccvcaj  XpitfToff  and  the  'ifvsv^a  aym^  and  therewith  complete  the 
number  thirty.  The  weakest  and  most  remote  member  of  the 
series  of  aeons  (in  number  the  twenty-eighth)  is  the  female,  lower 
Sophia  or  Achamoth,  who,  feeling  her  loneliness  and  estrange- 
ment from  the  great  Father,  wishes  to  unite  herself  immediately 
with  him ;  and  by  this  sinful  passion  brings  disturbance  into  the- 
pleroma,  then  wanders  about  outside  of  it,  falls  into  matter,  and' 
there  suffers  with  fear,  anxiety,  and  despair.  But  she  repents, 
3^earns  after  redemption,  is  finally,  after  many  tribulations,, 
liberated  by  Soter  emanating  from  the  collected  world  of  aeons,, 
and  brought  back  as  a  bride,  together  with  all  pneumatic  natures,, 
into  the  ideal  world.  The  demiurge,  as  the  friend  of  the  bride- 
groom,^ with  the  psychical  Christians  on  the  border  of  the 
pleroma,  remotely  shares  the  joy  of  the  festival,  while  matter 
sinks  back  into  nothing. 

In  Valentine's  Christology  we  must  distinguish  properly  three 
redeeming  beings:  (1)  the  avw  Xpirfrr'^  or  heavenly  Christ,  who, 
after  the  fall  of  Sophia,  emanates  from  the  aeonfAovo^svy;?,  and  stands 
in  conjunction  with  the  female  principle  ^vsC/xa  aym.  He  makes 
the  first  announcement  to  the  aeons  of  the  plan  of  redemption, 
whereupon  they  strike  up  anthems  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  in 
responsive  choirs.  (2)  The  CwT^jp  or  'l-ndoZs  produced  by  all  the  aeons 
together,  the  star  of  the  pleroma,  who  forms  with  the  redeemed 
Achamoth  the  last  and  highest  syzygy.  (3)  The  xwtw  XpjtfT&V,  the 
psychical  or  Jewish  Messiah,  who  is  sent  by  the  demiurge,  passes 

I  Ziyfi.  "  John  iii.  29. 

16 


242  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

through  the  body  of  Mary  as  water  through  a  pipe,  and  is  at 
last  crucified  by  the  unsusceptible  Jews,  but,  as  he  has  merely 
an  apparent  body,  does  not  really  suffer.  '  With  him  Soter,  the 
proper  redeemer,  united  himself  in  the  baptism  in  Jordan,  to  an- 
nounce his  divine  gnosis  on  earth  for  a  year,  and  lead  the  pneu- 
matic persons  to  perfection. 

Of  all  the  forms  of  Gnosticism  the  Valentinian  was  the  most 
pojDular  and  influential,  more  particularly  in  Rome.  The  school 
divided,  however,  into  two  branches,  an  Oriental^  and  an  Italian. 
The  first  in  which  Hippolytus  reckons  one  AxiONiCOS,  not  other- 
wise known,  and  Adresianes  (Bardesanes  ?),  held  the  body  of 
Jesus  to  be  pneumatic,  because  the  Holy  Ghost,  i.e.  Sophia, 
and  the  demiurgic  power  of  the  Highest,  came  upon  Mary.  The 
Italian  school — embracing  Heracleon  of  Alexandria,  author  of 
a  commentary  on  the  Gospel  of  John  known  to  us  by  fragments 
in  Origen,  and  Ptolemy,  author  of  the  Epistola  ad  Floram  pre- 
served in  Epiphanius — taught,  that  the  body  of  Jesus  was  psy- 
chical, and  that  for  this  reason  the  Spirit  descended  upon  him  in 
the  baptism.  The  two  persons  last  named  came  nearer  the  ortho- 
dox view.  Another  disciple  of  Valentine,  Marcos  of  Pales- 
tine, likewise  of  the  second  half  of  the  second  century,  blended  a 
Pythagorean  and  Cabbalistic  numerical  symbolism  with  the  ideas 
of  his  master,  introduced  a  ritual  abounding  in  ceremonies,  and 
sought  to  attract  beautiful  and  wealthy  women  by  magical  arts. 
His  followers  were  called  Marcosians. 

Finally,  in  the  Valentinian  school  is  to  be  counted  also  Barde- 
sanes, a  distinguished  Syrian  scholar  and  poet,  who  about  A.D. 
170  lived  at  the  court  of  the  prince  of  Edessa  ;  but  he  accommo- 
dated himself  particularly  in"  his  preaching  to  the  psychical  posi- 
tion of  the  catholic  church.  So  did  his  son  Harmonius,  a  gifted 
composer  of  hymns. 

9.  Justin  probably  lived  about  the  same  time,  although  we 
know  nothing  about  his  origin  and  personal  history.  He  propa- 
gated his  gnosis  secretly,  and  bound  liis  disciples  to  silence  by 


§   72.      THE   SEVERAL   SCHOOLS  OF   GNOSTICISM.  2-i3 

solemn  oatlis.  His  system,  wliicli,  together  witli  his  name,  has 
only  recently  become  Jmown  to  ns,^  has  a  Judaizing  cast,  and  is 
mostly  based  upon  a  mystical  interpretation  of  Genesis.  He 
made  use  also  of  the  Greek  mythology,  especially  the  tradition  of 
the  twelve  conflicts  of  Hercules.  He  assumes  tlu'ee  original  prin- 
ciples, two  male  and  one  female.  The  last  he  identifies  with 
Eden,  which  marries  Elohim,  and  becomes  thus  the  mother  of  the 
angels  of  the  spirit- world.  The  tree  of  life  in  paradise  represents 
the  good,  the  tree  of  knowledge  the  evil  angels  ;  the  four  rivers 
are  symbols  of  the  four  divisions  of  angels.  The  Naas  or  the 
serpent-spirit  he  made,  unlike  the  Ophites,  the  bearer  of  the  evil 
principle  ;  he  committed  adultery  with  Eve,  and  a  worse  crime 
with  Adam ;  he  adulterated  the  laws  of  Moses  and  the  oracles  of 
the  prophets ;  he  nailed  Jesus  to  the  cross.  But  by  this  cruci- 
fixion Jesus  was  emancipated  from  his  material  body,  rose  to  the 
good  God  to  whom  he  committed  his  spirit  in  death,  and  thus 
became  the  deliverer. 

10.  Contemporary  with  Yalentine  was  Marcion,  an  earnest, 
energetic  man,  but  restless,  rough,  and  eccentric.  In  him  the 
Christian  and  practical  element,  but  with  it  that  of  opposition  to 
Judaism,  was  much  more  prominent  than  in  the  other  Gnostics. 
He  represents  an  extreme  pseudo-Pauline  tendency,  and  a  magi- 
cal supranaturalism,  which,  in  fanatical  zeal  for  a  pure  primitive 
Christianity,  nullifies  all  history,  and  turns  the  gospel  into  an 
abrupt,  unnatural,  phantom-like  appearance.  He  was  the  son  of 
the  bishop  of  Sinope  in  Pontus,  but  was  excommunicated  for  his 
proud  contempt  of  church  authority  and  tradition,^  and  betook 
himself  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century  to  Eome.  There 
he  joined  the  Syrian  Gnostic  Cerdo,  who  gave  him  a  speculative 
foundation  for  his  practical  dualism.  He  disseminated  liis  doc- 
trine by  travels,  but  at  last  was  about  to  apply  for  restoration  to 
the  communion  of  the  Church,  when  his  death  intervened.  The 
abhorrence  of  the  Catholics  for  him  is  expressed  in  the  report  of 

'  Through  the  Philosophoumena,  v.  22  and  x.  15. 

^  Tertullian  and  others  say,  also  for  seducing  a  consecrated  virgin ;  but  this  doe3 
aot  go  well  with  his  asceticism. 


244  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.   100-311. 

Irenaeus,  that  Polycarp  of  Smyrna,  meeting  with  Marcion  in 
Eome,  and  being  asked  by  him :  "  Dost  thou  know  me  ?" 
answered  :  "I  know  the  first-born  of  Satan. "^ 

Marcion  supposed  three  primal  forces  •}  the  good  or  gracious 
God,^  whom  Christ  first  made  known ;  the  evil  matter,  ruled  by 
the  deviV  to  which  heathenism  belongs ;  and  the  righteous 
world-maker,"  who  is  the  finite,  angry  God  of  the  Jews.  He 
did  not  go,  however,  into  any  further  speculative  analysis  of 
these  jjrinciples ;  he  rejected  the  pagan  emanation  theory,  the 
secret  tradition,  and  the  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  Gnostics ; 
and  he  gave  faith  a  higher  place  than  it  generally  had  with 
them.  He  was  chiefly  zealous  for  the  consistent  practical  enforce- 
ment of  his  dualism.  He  set  the  idea  of  goodness  and  the  idea 
of  righteousness,  the  gospel  and  the  law,  Christianity  and  Juda- 
ism, in  direct  antagonism ;  and  drew  out  this  contrast  at  large  in 
a  special  work,  entitled  "  Antitheses."  He  rejected  all  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  wrested  Christ's  word  in  Matt.  v.  17 
into  the  very  opposite  declaration :  "I  am  come  not  to  fulfil  the 
law  and  the  prophets,  but  to  destroy  them."  In  his  view,  Chris- 
tianity thus  has  no  connexion  whatever  with  the  past,  whether 
of  the  Jewish  or  the  heathen  world,  but  has  fallen  abruptly  and 
magically,  as  it  were,  from  heaven.  Christ,  too,  was  not  born 
at  all,  but  suddenly  descended  into  the  city  of  Capernaum 
in  the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  and  appeared  as 
the  revealer  of  the  good  God,  who  sent  him.  He  has  no  con- 
nexion with  the  Messiah,  announced  by  the  demiurge  in  the  Old 
Testament;  though  he  called  himself  the  Messiah  by  way  of 
accommodation.  His  body  was  a  mere  appearance,  and  his 
death  an  illusion,  though  they  had  a  real  meaning.  He  cast  the 
demiurge  into  hades,  secured  redemption,  and  called  the  apostle 
Paul  to  preach  it.  The  other  apostles  are  Judaizing  corrupters 
of  pure  Christianity,  and  their  writings  are  to  be  rejected, 
together  with  the  catholic  tradition. 


'  Iren.  adv.  haer.  iiL  C.  3,  §  4:  'En-iyd'aio'/ftj  row  jrpurtfroA-iji'  roC  Laraul, 

^ 'A.p^al.  3  Otdj  dyudrff.  *"YAi;.  *  Ai)/iioiipy(Sf  SiKaiOf. 


§    72.      THE   SEYEEAL    SCHOOLS   OF    GNOSTICISM.  245 

Marcion  formed  a  canon  of  bis  own,  wliicli  consisted  onl}-  of 
eleven  books,  an  abridged  and  mutilated  gospel  of  Luke,  and 
ten  of  Paul's  epistles.  The  pastoral  epistles,  in  wliicli  the  fore- 
runners of  Gnosticism  are  condemned,  and  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  he  likewise  rejected. 

Notwithstanding  his  violent  antinomianism,  Marcion  taught 
and  practised  the  strictest  ascetic  self-discipline,  which  revolted 
not  only  from  all  pagan  festivities,  but  even  from  marriage.  He 
could  find  the  true  God  in  nature  no  more  than  in  history.  He 
admitted  married  persons  to  baptism  only  on  a  vow  of  abstinence 
from  all  sexual  intercourse. 

In  worship  he  repudiated  the  catholic  ritual,  and  insisted  on 
the  greatest  simplicity. 

His  sect  spread  in  Italy,  Egypt,  North  Africa,  and  Syria,  and 
continued  until  the  sixth  century  ;  but  it  split  into  many 
branches.  The  most  noteworthy  Marcionites  are  Maecus, 
LucAXUS,  and  Apelles,  who  supplied  the  defects  of  their 
master's  system  by  other  Gnostic  sj^eculations,  and  in  some 
instances  softened  down  its  antipathy  to  heathenism  and  Juda- 
ism. 

11.  T  ATI  AX,  a  rhetorician  of  S}Tia,  who  was  converted  to 
Christianity  by  Justin  Martyr  in  Eome,  but  afterwards  strayed 
into  Gnosticism,  and  died  about  a.d.  170,  resembles  Marcion  in 
his  anti-Jewish  turn  and  his  dismal  austerity.  Falsely  interpret- 
ing 1  Cor.  vii.  5,  he  declared  marriage  to  be  a  kind  of  licentious- 
ness and  a  service  of  the  devil.  His  followers,  who  kejDt  the 
system  alive  till  the  fourth  century,  were  called,  from  their 
ascetic  life,  Enceatites.^  This  name,  however,  was  applied 
indiscriminately  to  all  the  ascetic  sects  of  the  Gnostics. 

12.  The  name  Antitactes,  on  the  contrary,^  denotes  the 
licentious  antinomian  Gnostics,  rather  than  the  followers  of  any 
single  master,  to  whom  the  term  can  be  traced. 

13.  Among  these  belong  the  Peodicians,  so  named  from 

'  'KyKparirat,  the  abstemious;  or,  from  their  prohibition  of  wine,  and  their  use  of 
water  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  'YSpo-aoaaTarai,  Aquarii. 
^  From  liurtraaacyS  ii,  to  defy,  rebel  against,  the  law. 


246  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

their  founder,  Prodicus.  They  considered  themselves  the  royal 
family/  and,  in  crazy  self-conceit,  thought  themselves  above  the 
law,  the  sabbath,  and  every  form  of  worship,  even  above  prayer 
itself,  which  was  becoming  only  to  the  ignorant  mass. 

14.  IIermogenes,  a  painter  of  Carthage  at  the  end  of  the 
second  century,  who  was  attacked  by  Tertullian,  is  but  remotely 
connected  with  Gnosticism.  lie  proceeded  on  Platonic  and 
dualistic  principles,  and  propounded  a  peculiar  theory  of  crea- 
tion, deriving  the  soul  and  the  body  of  man  from  the  form- 
less, eternal  matter,  and  explaining  the  ugly  in  the  natural 
world,  as  well  as  evil  in  the  spiritual,  by  the  resistance  of  matter 
to  the  formative  influence  of  God. 

§  73.   Manichaeism. 

I.  Archelaus  (bishop  of  Cascar  about  278) :  Acta  disputationis  cum  Manete 

(first  composed  in  Syriac,  but  extant  only  in  a  Latin  translation,  and  in 
many  respects  unreliable),  in  Bouth's  Eeliquiae  sacrae.  Vol.  V.  3-206. 
The  Oriental  accounts,  of  later  date  indeed  (the  9th  and  10th  centuries), 
but  drawn  from  ancient  sources,  are  collected  in  Hekbelot  :  Bibl.  orient. 
Par.  1679.  s.  v.  Mani.  Titus  Bostrensis  (about  360) :  Kara  Mai't;^aiior. 
Epipran.  :  Ilaer.  66  (drawn  from  Archelaus).  The  anti-Manicliaean 
works  of  Augustine  (in  the  8th  vol.  of  the  Bened.  ed.). 

II.  I.  DE  Beausobre  :  Histoire  crit.  de  Manichee  et  du  Manichdisme.     Amst. 

1734  &  '39.  2  vols.  F.  Chr.  Bauu  :  Das  Manichiiische  Religionssystem 
nach  den  Quellcn  untersucht.     Tiib.  1831. 

1.  Its  external  history.  The  origin  of  Manichaeism  is  matter 
of  obscure  and  confused  tradition.  The  Oriental  sources  trace 
it  to  Mani  (Manes,  Manichaeus),  a  celebrated  Persian  magian, 
astronomer,  and  painter,  of  the  second  half  of  the  third  cen- 
tury, who  came  over  to  Christianity,  or  rather  introduced  some 
Christian  elements  into  the  Zoroastrian  religion,  and  thus  stirred 
up  an  intellectual  revolution  among  his  former  brethren  in 
faith.  He  is  said  to  have  been  for  some  time  a  Presbyter, 
but  to  have  been  excommunicated  by  the  Christians.  lie 
proposed  to  purge  Christianity  of  its  alleged  Jewish  corrup- 


1  Ei 


vycicii. 


§    73.      MANICHAEISM.  2-i7 

/' 

tions,  to  demonstrate  its  unity  with  Parsism,  and  tlicrcb}"  to 
present  the  perfect  universal  religion.  He  declared  himself  the 
j^araclete  promised  by  Christ,  and  began  his  "  Epistola  funda- 
menti,"  in  which  he  propounded  his  leading  doctrines,  with  the 
words :  "  Mani,  the  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  the  providence  of 
God  the  Father.  These  are  the  words  of  salvation  from  the  eternal 
and  living  source."  At  first  he  found  favor  at  the  court  of  the 
Persian  king  Shapur  (Saporcs),  but  was  afterwards  persecuted  by 
the  Magians,  and  fled  to  East  India,  where  he  became  acquainted 
with  Buddhism,  and  received  it  into  his  syncretistic  religion. 
Indeed,  the  name  of  Buddha  is  interwoven  with  the  legendary 
history  of  the  Manichaean  system.  In  the  year  272  he  returned 
to  Persia,  and  won  many  followers  by  his  symbolic  pictorial  illus- 
trations of  the  doctrines,  which  he  pretended  had  been  revealed 
to  him  by  God.  But  in  a  disputation  with  the  magi,  he  was  con- 
victed of  corrupting  the  old  religion,  and  thereupon  was  flayed 
alive  by  order  of  king  Behram  (Veranes)  about  277 ;  his  skin 
was  stuffed  and  hung  up,  for  a  terror,  at  the  gates  of  the  city 
Djondishapur. 

Soon  after  Mani's  cruel  death  his  sect  spread  in  Asia,  Korth 
Africa,  Sicily,  and  Italy.  The  mysterioiLsness  of  its  doctrine 
and  its  show  of  ascetic  holiness  sometimes  attracted  even  pro- 
found and  noble  spirits,  like  Augustine,  who  was  nine  years  a 
member  of  it.  But  it  was  violently  persecuted  in  the  Roman 
empire,  first  by  Diocletian  (a.d.  287),  and  afterwards  by  the 
Christian  emperors,  till  in  the  sixth  century  it  yielded  and  dis- 
appeared. Yet  the  system  itself  extended  its  influence  through- 
out the  middle  ages,  re-appearing,  under  different  modifications, 
in  the  Priscillianists,  Paulicians,  Bogomiles,  Catharists,  and 
other  sects,  which  were  therefore  called  New  Manichaeans.  In- 
deed the  leading  features  of  Manichaeism,  the  dualistic  separation 
of  soul  and  body,  the  ascription  of  nature  to  the  devil,  the  pan- 
theistic confusion  of  the  moral  and  the  physical,  the  hypocritical 
symbolism,  concealing  heathen  views  under  Christian  phrases, 
the  haughty  air  of  mystery,  and  the  aristocratic  distinction  of 
esoteric  and  exoteric,  still  live  in  various  forms  even  in  modern 


218  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

systems  of  pliilosoplij  and  sects  of  religion.  (The  Mormons  of 
our  day  strongly  bring  to  mind,  in  many  respects,  even  in  their 
organization,  the  ancient  Manichaeans.) 

2.  In  its  doctrine,  ;N[anicliaeism,  like  the  kindred  Gnosticism, 
is  a  compound  of  Christianity  with  paganism ;  with  the  dualism 
of  the  Persian  religion  and  the  pantheism  of  the  Indian,  The 
foundation,  |)roperly  speaking,  is  the  Zoroastrian  doctrine  in  its 
rigidly  diuilistic  form,  as  restored  by  the  school  of  the  Magusac- 
ans  under  the  reign  of  the  Sassanides  towards  the  middle  of  the 
second  century.  On  this  basis  some  Gnostic  Christian  elements 
are  mechanically  laid.  The  whole  Old  Testament  is  rejected, 
and  most  of  the  New,  to  give  way  to  the  authority  of  the  writ- 
ings of  ]Srani  and  some  apocryphal  Gospels  and  Acts. 

The  system  begins  with  an  eternal  antagonism  between  the 
kingdom  of  light  and  the  kingdom  of  darkness.  From  a  wild 
assault  of  the  latter  upon  the  former  results  the  present  world, 
which  exhibits  a  mixture  of  the  two  elements,  detached  portions 
of  light  imprisoned  in  darkness.  Every  individual  man,  even,  is 
at  once  a  son  of  light  and  of  darkness,  has  a  good  soul,  and  a 
body  substantially  evil,  with  an  evil  soul  corresponding  to  it. 
The  redemption  of  the  light  from  the  bonds  of  the  darkness  is 
effected  by  Christ,  identical  with  the  sun  spirit,  and  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  who  has  his  seat  in  the  ether.  These  two  beings  attract 
the  light-forces  out  of  the  material  world,  while  the  evil  demon, 
or  the  prince  of  darkness,  and  the  spirits  imprisoned  in  the  stars, 
seek  to  keep  them  back.  The  sun  and  moon  are  the  two  light- 
ships^ for  conducting  the  imprisoned  light  into  the  eternal  king- 
dom of  light.  The  full  moon  represents  the  ship  laden  with 
light;  the  new  moon,  the  vessel  emptied  of  its  cargo;  and  the 
twelve  signs 'of  the  zodiac  also  serve  as  buckets  in  this  pumping 
operation. 

The  Manichaean  christology,  like  the  Gnostic,  is  entirely 
docetistic,  and,  by  its  perverted  view  of  body  and  matter,  wholly 
excludes  the  idea  of  an  incarnation  of  God.  The  teachings  of 
Christ  were  compiled  and  falsified  by  the  apostles  in  the  spirit 

'  Lucidae  naves. 


§   73.      MAXICHAEISM.  249 

of  Judaism.  Mani,  the  promised  paraclete,  lias  restored  tliem. 
Tlie  goal  of  history  is  an  entire  separation  of  the  light  from  the 
darkness ;  upon  which  the  latter  sinks  into  impotence. 

Thus  Christianity  is  here  resolved  into  a  fantastic,  dualistico- 
pantheistic  philosophy  of  nature ;  moral  regeneration  is  identified 
with  a  process  of  physical  refinement ;  and  the  whole  mystery  of 
redemption  is  found  in  light,  which  was  always  worshipped  in 
the  East  as  the  symbol  of  deity.  Unquestionably  there  pervades 
the  Manichaean  system  a  kind  of  groaning  of  the  creature  for 
redemption,  and  a  deep  sympathy  with  nature,  that  hieroglyphic 
of  spirit ;  but  all  is  distorted  and  confused.  The  suffering  Jesus 
on  the  cross,  Jesus  patibilis,  is  here  a  mere  illusion,  a  symbol  of 
the  w^orld-soul  still  enchained  in  matter,  and  is  seen  in  every 
plant  which  works  upwards  from  the  dark  bosom  of  the  earth 
towards  the  light ;  towards  bloom  and  fruit,  yearning  after  free- 
dom. Hence  the  class  of  the  "  perfect"  would  not  kill  nor  wound 
a  beast,  pluck  a  flower,  nor  break  a  blade  of  grass.  The  system, 
instead  of  being,  as  it  pretends,  a  liberation  of  light  from  dark- 
ness, is  really  a.turning  of  light  into  darkness. 

3.  The  morality  of  the  Manichaeans  was  severely  ascetic,  based 
on  the  fundamental  error  of  the  intrinsic  evil  of  matter  and  the 
body ;  the  extreme  opposite  of  the  Pelagian  view  of  the  essential 
moral  purity  of  human  nature.  The  great  moral  aim  is,  to 
become  entirely  unworldly  in  the  Buddhistic  sense ;  to  renounce 
and  destroy  corporeity ;  to  set  the  good  soul  free  from  the  fetters 
of  matter.  This  is  accomplished  by  the  most  rigid  and  gloomy 
abstinence,  which,  however,  is  required  only  of  the  elect,  not  of 
catechumens.  There  is  a  three-fold  seal  or  preservative  of  per- 
fection :  (a)  The  signaculum  oris ;  that  is,  purity  in  words  and 
in  diet,  abstinence  from  all  animal  food  and  strong  drink,  even 
in  the  holy  supper,  and  restriction  to  vegetable  diet,  which  was 
furnished  to  the  perfect  by  the  "hearers,"  particularly  olives,  as 
their  oil  is  the  food  of  light,  (b)  The  signaculum  manuum; 
renunciation  of  earthly  property,  and  of  material  and  industrial 
pursuits,  even  agriculture ;  with  a  sacred  reverence  for  the 
divine  light-life  diffused  through  all  nature,    (c)  The  signaculum 


250  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

sinus,  or  celibacy ;  marriage,  or  rather  j)rocreation,  being  a  con- 
tamination with  corjDoreity,  which  is  essentially  evil.  This  unna- 
tural holiness  at  the  same  time  atoned  for  the  unavoidable  daily 
sins  of  the  catechiunens.  It  was  accompanied,  however,  as  in 
the  Gnostics,  with  an  excessive  pride  of  knowledge,  and  its  fair 
show  not  rarely  concealed  refined  forms  of  vice. 

4.  Organization  and  cultus,  Manichaeism  differed  from  all 
the  Gnostic  schools  in  having  a  fixed,  and  that  a  strictly  hierar- 
chical, organization.  At  the  head  of  the  sect  stood  twelve  apos- 
tles, or  magistri,  among  whom  Mani  and  his  successors,  like 
Peter  and  the  pope,  held  the  chief  place.  Under  them  were 
seventy-two  bishops,  answering  to  the  seventy-two  (strictly 
seventy)  disciples  of  Jesus ;  and  under  these  came  presbyters, 
deacons,  and  itinerant  evangelists.  In  the  congregation  there 
were  two  distinct  classes,  designed  to  correspond  to  the  catechu- 
mens and  the  faithful  in  the  catholic  church:  the  "hearers;"^ 
and  the  "perfect,"  the  esoteric,  the  priestly  caste,^  which  represents 
the  last  stage  in  the  process  of  the  liberation  of  the  spirit  and  its 
separation  from  the  world,  the  transition  from  the  kingdom  of 
matter  into  the  kingdom  of  light,  or,  in  Buddhistic  terms,  from 
the  world  of  Sansara  into  Nirwana. 

The  worship  of  the  Manichaeans  was,  on  the  whole,  very 
simple.  They  observed  Sunday,  in  honor  of  the  sun,  which  was 
with  them  the  same  with  the  redeemer ;  and,  contrary  to  the 
custom  of  the  catholic  Christians,  they  made  it  a  day  of  fasting. 
They  rejected  the  church  festivals,  but  instead  celebrated  in 
March  with  great  pomp  the  day  of  the  death  of  their  divinely 
appointed  teacher,  Mani.^  They  repudiated  baptism,  considering 
it  useless;  the  perfect,  it  seems,  partook  of  tlie  holy  supper, 
sometimes  even  under  disguise  in  catholic  churches,  but  without 
wine  (because  Christ  had  no  blood),  and  regarding  it  perhaps 
according  to  their  pantheistic  symbolism,  as  the  commemoration 
of  the  light-soul  crucified  in  all  nature.    Their  sign  of  recognition 

'  Auditores. 

2  Electi,  perfecti,  rcXcwi  ■  the  sacfrdntalc  genus,  as  Faustus  terms  it. 

'  The  feast  of  "  the  chair,"  /3<;/ia,  cathedra* 


§  74.  THE  CATHOLIC  THEOLOGY.  251 

was  tlie  extension  of  tlie  right  hand  as  a  symbol  of  the  common 
deliverance  from  the  kingdom  of  darkness  by  the  redeeming 
hand  of  the  spirit  of  the  sun. 


§  74.  The  Catholic  Theology. 

For  the  literature,  see  §§  68  and  70. 

By  the  wide-spread  errors  now  described  the  church  was 
challenged  to  a  mighty  intellectual  combat,  from  which  she  came 
forth  victorious,  according  to  the  promise  of  her  Lord,  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  should  guide  her  into  all  truth.  To  the  subjective, 
baseless,  and  ever-changing  speculations,  dreams,  and  fictions  of 
the  heretics,  she  opposed  the  substantial,  solid  realities  of  the 
divine  revelation.  Christian  theology  grew,  indeed,  as  by  inward 
necessity,  from  the  demand  of  faith  for  knowledge.  But  heresy, 
Grnosticism  in  particular,  gave  it  a  powerful  impulse  from  with- 
out, and  came  as  a  fertilizing  thunder-storm  upon  the  field.  Of 
course,  the  church  possessed  the  truth  from  the  beginning,  iji  the 
experience  of  faith,  and  in  the  holy  scriptures,  which  she  handed 
down  with  scrupulous  fidelity  from  generation  to  generation. 
But  now  came  the  task  of  developing  the  substance  of  the  Chris- 
tian truth  in  theoretical  form,^  fortifying  it  on  all  sides,  and 
presenting  it  in  clear  light  before  the  understanding.  Thus  the 
Christian  polemic  and  dogmatic  theology,  or  the  church's  logical 
apprehension  of  the  doctrines  of  salvation,  unfolded  itself  in  this 
conflict  with  heresy,  as  the  apologetic  literature  and  martyrdom 
had  arisen  through  Jewish  and  heathen  persecution. 

From  this  time  forth  the  distinction  between  catholic  and  here- 
tical, orthodoxy  and  heterodoxy,  the  faith  of  the  church  and 
private  judgment,  became  steadily  more  prominent.  Every 
doctrine  which  agreed  with  the  holy  scriptures  and  the  faith  of 
the  church,  was  received  as  catholic;  that  is,  universal,  alone, 
and  exclusive.^    Whatever  deviated  materially  from  this  stand- 

'  Aoyi/cwxeooi',  as  Eusebius  has  it. 

"  The  term,  cathoUc,  is  first  appUed  ecclesiasticallj  by  Ignatius. 


252  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

ard,  every  arbitrary  and  personal  opini(jn,  framed  by  tliis  or  that 
individual,  every  theoretical  distortion  or  corruption  of  the 
revealed  doctrines  of  Christianity,  every  departure  from  the 
public  sentiment  of  the  church,  was  considered  heresy,' 

Almost  all  the  church  fathers  of  the  second  and  third  centuries 
came  out  against  these  fundamental  heresies,  either  with  argu- 
ments from  scripture,  with  the  tradition  of  the  church,  or  with 
rational  demonstration,  proving  them  inwardly  inconsistent  and 
absurd. 

But  in  doing  this,  while  they  are  one  in  sj^irit  and  purpose, 
they  pursue  two  very  different  courses,  determined  by  the  dif- 
ferences between  the  Greek  and  Roman  national  characters,  and 
by  peculiarities  of  mental  organization  and  the  appointment  of 
providence.  The  Greek  theology,  above  all  the  Alexandrian, 
represented  by  Clement  and  Origcn,  is  predominantly  idealistic 
and  speculative,  dealing  with  the  objective  doctrines  of  God,  the 
incarnation,  the  trinity,  and  christology ;  endeavoring  to  supplant 
the  false  Gnosis  by  a  true  knowledge,  an  orthodox  philosophy, 
resting  on  the  Christian  pistis.  The  Latin  theology,  particularly 
the  North  African,  whose  most  distinguished  representatives  are 
Tcrtullian  and  Cyprian,  is  more  realistic  and  practical,  concerned 
with  the  doctrines  of  human  nature  and  of  salvation,  and  more 
directly  hostile  to  Gnosticism  and  philosophy.  With  this  is  con- 
nected the  fact,  that  the  Greek  lathers  were  first  philosophers ; 
the  Latin  were  mostly  lawyers  and  statesmen ;  the  former  reached 
the  Christian  faith  in  the  way  of  speculation,  the  latter  in  the 
spirit  of  practical  morality.  Characteristically,  too,  the  Greek 
church  built  mainly  upon  the  apostle  John,  pre-eminently  the 
contemplative  "divine;"  the  Latin  upon  Peter,  the  practical 
leader  of  the  church.  While  Clement  of  Alexandria  and  Origen 
often  wander  away  into  cloudy,  almost  Gnostic  speculation,  and 
threaten  to  resolve  into  thin  spiritualism  the  real  substance  of 
the  Christian  ideas,  Tertullian  sets  himself  implacably  against 
Gnosticism  and  the  heathen  philosophy  on  which  it  rests :  "  What 

•  From  a'pccri?,  choice,  caprice,  error,  also  sect;  comp.  Tit.  iii.  10.     2  Pet.  iL  1. 
1  Cor.  xi.  19. 


§  7-i.   THE  CATHOLIC  THEOLOGY.  253 

fellowsliip,"  lie  asks,  "is  there  between  Athens  and  Jerusalem, 
the  academy  and  the  church,  heretics  and  Christians  ?  "  But  this 
difference  is  only  relative.  With  all  their  spiritualism,  the 
Alexandrians  still  committed  themselves  to  a  striking  literalism ; 
while,  in  spite  of  his  aversion  to  philosophy,  Tertullian  labors 
with  the  profound  speculative  ideas  which  come  to  their  full 
birth  in  Augustine. 

Irenaeus,  who  sprang  from  the  Eastern  church,  and  used  the 
Greek  language,  but  labored  in  the  West,  holds  a  kind  of  medi- 
ating position  between  the  two  branches  of  the  church,  and  may 
be  taken  as,  on  the  whole,  the  most  moderate  and  sound  repre- 
sentative of  ecclesiastical  orthodoxy  in  the  period  before  us.  He 
is  as  decided  against  Gnosticism  as  Tertullian,  without  overlook- 
ing the  speculative  want  betrayed  in  that  system.  His  refutation 
of  the  Gnosis,'  written  between  177  and  192,  is  the  leading  polemic 
work  of  the  second  century.  In  the  first  book  of  this  work,  Ire- 
naeus gives  a  full  account  of  the  Yalentinian  system  of  Gnosis ; 
in  the  second  book  he  begins  his  refutation  in  philosophical  and 
logical  style ;  in  the  third,  he  brings  against  the  system  the 
catholic  tradition  and  the  holy  scriptures,  and  vindicates  the 
orthodox  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  God,  the  creation  of  the  world, 
the  incarnation  of  the  Logos,  against  the  docetistic  denial  of  the 
true  humanity  of  Christ  and  the  Ebionistic  denial  of  his  true 
divinity ;  in  the  fourth  book  he  further  fortifies  the  same  doc- 
trines, and,  against  the  antinomianism  of  the  school  of  Marcion, 
demonstrates  the  unity  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  ;  in  the 
fifth  and  last  book  he  presents  his  views  on  cschatology,  particu- 
larly on  the  resurrection  of  the  body — so  offensive  to  the  Gnostic 
spiritualism — and  at  the  close  treats  of  antichrist,  the  end  of  the 
world,  the  intermediate  state,  and  the  millennium. 

His  disciple  Hippolytus  gives  us,  in  the  "  Philosophoumena," 
a  still  fuller  account,  in  many  respects,  of  the  early  heresies,  and 
traces  them  up  to  their  sources  in  the  heathen  systems  of  philo- 
sophy, but  goes  not  so  deep  into  the  exposition  of  the  catholic 
doctrines  of  the  church. 


25-i  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   lOO-oll. 

The  leading  effort  in  this  polemic  literature  was,  of  course,  to 
clevelope  and  establish  positively  the  Christian  truth  ;  which  is, 
at  the  same  time,  to  refute  most  effectually  the  opposite  error. 
The  object  was,  particularly,  to  settle  the  doctrines  of  the  rule 
of  faith,  the  incarnation  of  God,  and  the  true  divinity  and  true 
humanity  of  Christ.  In  this  effort  the  mind  of  the  church,  under 
the  constant  guidance  of  the  divine  word  and  the  apostolic  tradi- 
tion, steered  with  unerring  instinct  between  the  threatening  cliffs. 
Yet  no  little  indcfiniteness  and  obscurity  still  prevailed  in  the 
scientific  apprehension  and  statement  of  these  points.  In  this 
stormy  time,  too,  there  were  as  yet  no  general  councils  to  settle 
doctrinal  controversy  by  the  voice  of  the  whole  church.  The 
dogmas  of  the  trinity  and  the  person  of  Christ,  did  not  reach 
maturity  and  final  symbolical  definition  until  the  following  period, 
or  the  Nicene  age. 

§  75.  The  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  Canon. 

J,  KiRcnnoFER :  Quellensammlung  zur  Geschichte  des  N.  Tlichen  Kanons  bis 
auf  Hieronymns.  Ziir.  1844.  Testimonia  Ante-Nicaena  pro  auctoritate 
Scripturae,  in  Rourn,  Reliq.  s.,  V.  p.  336-354.  Comp.  the  Introductions 
to  the  N.  T.  by  Hug,  Credner,  De  Wette,  Reuss,  Guericke,  Home, 
Davidson,  &c.  J.  A.  Daniel  :  Theol.  Controversen  (the  doctrine  of  the 
Scriptures  as  the  source  of  knowledge).  Halle,  1843.  J.  J.  Jacobi: 
Die  kirchl.  Lehre  von  d.  Tradition  u.  heil.  Schrift  in  ilirer  Entwickelung 
dargestellt.  Berl.  I.  1847.  A.  Alexander  :  The  Canon  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  ascertained.     New  ed.     Phil.  1851. 

The  question  of  the  source  and  rule  of  Christian  knowledge 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  theology.  We  tlicrcfore  notice  it 
here  before  passing  to  the  several  doctrines  of  faith. 

This  source  and  this  rule  of  knowledge  are  the  holy  scriptures 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.^  Here  at  once  arises  the  inquiry 
as  to  the  number  and  arrangement  of  the  sacred  writings,  or  the 
canon,  in  distinction  both  from  the  productions  of  enlightened 
but  not  inspired  church  teachers,  and  from  the  very  numerous 
and  in  some  cases  still  extant  apocryphal  works  (gospels,  acts, 
epistles,  and  apocalypses),  which  were  composed  chiefly  in  the 

'  Called  simply  //  ypa'l>!i,  al  yp>^'l">'i,  scriptura,  scripturae. 


§   75.      THE  HOLY   SCRIPTURES  AND  THE   CAJSTON.         255 

second  and  tliird  centuries,  in  tlie  interest  of  heresies,  and  sent 
forth  under  the  name  of  an  apostle  or  other  eminent  person. 
These  apocryjDha,  however,  did  not  all  originate  with  Ebionites 
and  Gnostics ;  some  were  merely  designed  either  to  fill  chasms 
in  the  history  of  Jesus  and  the  apostles  by  idle  stories,  or  to 
glorify  Christianity  by  vaticinia  post  eventum,  in  the  way  of  the 
pia  fraus  at  that  time  freely  allowed. 

The  canon  of  the  Old  Testament  descended  to  the  church  from 
the  Jews,  with  the  sanction  of  Christ  and  the  apostles.  The  New 
Testament  canon  was  gradually  formed,  on  the  model  of  the  Old, 
in  the  course  of  the  first  three  centuries,  under  the  guidance  of 
the  same  Spirit,  through  whose  suggestion  the  several  apostolic 
books  had  been  prepared.  The  first  trace  of  it  appears  in  the 
second  Epistle  of  Peter  iii.  15,  where  a  collection  of  Paul's  epis- 
tles ^  is  presumed  to  exist,  and  is  placed  by  the  side  of  the  other 
sacred  books.^  The  apostolic  fathers  and  the  earlier  apologists 
commonly  appeal,  indeed,  for  the  divinity  of  Christianity  to  the 
Old  Testament,  to  the  oral  preaching  of  the  apostles,  to  the  liv- 
ing fiiith  of  the  Christian  churches,  the  triumphant  death  of  the 
martyrs,  and  the  continued  miracles.  Yet  their  works  contain 
quotations,  generally  without  the  name  of  the  author,  from  the 
most  important  writings  of  the  apostles,  or  at  least  allusions  to 
those  writings,  enough  to  place  their  high  antiquity  and  ecclesi- 
astical authority  beyond  all  doubt.  The  heretical  canon  of  the 
Gnostic  Marcion,  of  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  consisting 
of  a  mutilated  gospel  of  Luke  and  ten  of  Paul's  epistles,  certainly 
implies  the  existence  of  an  orthodox  canon  at  this  time,  as  heresy 
always  presupposes  truth,  of  which  it  is  a  caricature.  The  prin- 
cipal books  of  the  New  Testament,  the  four  Gospels,  the  Acts, 
the  thirteen  Epistles  of  Paul,  the  first  Epistle  of  Peter,  and  the 
first  of  John,  which  are  designated  by  Eusebius  as  "homologou- 
mena,"  were  in  general  use  in  the  church  as  early  as  the  second 
century,  and  acknowledged  to  be  apostolic,  inspired  by  the  Spirit 
of  Christ,  and  therefore  authoritative  and  canonical.  This  is 
established  by  the  testimony  of  Irenaeus,  Tertullian,  Clement  of 

'  'Ej'  n-.iaaif  rati  i.TTiaro'XaTs,  *  Taj  Xouraj  ypa(pai. 


256  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

Alexandria,  and  Origen,  of  tlie  Peshito,  and  the  Fragment  of 
Muratori — persons  and  documents  which  represent  in  this  matter 
the  church  in  Asia  Minor,  Italy,  Gaul,  North  Africa,  Egypt, 
Palestine,  and  Syria.  We  may  therefore  call  these  books  the 
original  canon.  Concerning  the  other  seven  books,  the  "  antilego- 
mena  "  of  Eusebius,  viz.  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,^  the  Apoca- 
lypse,- the  second  Epistle  of  Peter,  the  second  and  third  Epistles 
of  John,  the  Epistle  of  James,  and  the  Epistle  of  Jude, — the  tra- 
dition of  the  church  in  the  time  of  Eusebius,  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  century,  still  wavered  between  acceptance  and  rejection. 
There  was  a  second  class  of  antilegomena,  called  by  Eusebius  vo6ct^ 
consisting  of  several  post-apostolic  writings,  viz,  the  catholic 
Epistle  of  Barnabas,  the  first  Epistle  of  Clement  of  Rome  to  the 
Corinthians,  the  Epistle  of  Polycarp  to  the  Philippians,  the  Shep- 
herd of  Hermas,  and  the  lost  Apocalypse  of  Peter  and  the  Gos- 
pel of  the  Hebrews ;  which  were  read  at  least  in  some  churches, 
but  were  afterwards  generally  separated  from  the  canon.  The 
first  express  definition  of  the  New  Testament  canon,  in  the  form 
in  which  it  has  since  been  universally  retained,  comes  from  the 
North  African  synod  held  in  the  year  393  at  Hippo,  the  episco- 
pal see  of  Augustine.  By  that  time,  at  least,  the  whole  church 
must  have  already  become  entirely  unanimous  as  to  the  number 
of  the  canonical  books ;  so  that  there  seemed  to  be  no  need  even 
of  the  sanction  of  a  general  council.  The  Eastern  church,  at 
all  events,  was  entirely  independent  of  the  North  African  in 
the  matter.  The  name  Novum  Testamentum,^  also  Novum 
Instrumentum  (a  juridical  term  conveying  the  idea  of  legal  vali- 
dity), occurs  first  in  Tertullian.  This  canon  was  currently  divided 
into  two  parts,  the  Gospel  and  the  Apostle  ;*  and  the  second  part 
into  catholic  or  general  epistles,  and  Pauline. 

*  "Which  was  regarded  as  canonical  indeed,  but  not  as  genuine  in  the  West. 

2  Whicli  has  the  strongest  external  testimony,  that  of  Justin,  Irenacus,  &c.,  in  its 
favor,  and  caino  into  question  only  in  the  third  century  through  some  anti-chiliasts,  on 
dogmatical  grounds. 

3  AiaS/ivn,  comp.  Matt.  xxvi.  28,  where  the  Vulgate  translates,  "  testamentum." 

■*  Tu    cV(iyye}iiK(i  Kai  ru  (i-irnarii'XiKii,  to  toiyytXioi/  xal  b  lirrdffryA.ii  ;    instrunientum   CVaU- 

gelicum,  apostolicum,  or  evangeliuin,  apostolus. 


§   75.      THE   HOLY   SCRIPTUEES  AND  THE   CANON.         257 

As  to  the  origin  and  character  of  the  apostolic  writings,  the 
church  fathers  adopted  for  the  New  Testament  the  theory  of 
inspiration  applied  by  the  Jews  to  the  Okl ;  regarding  the  seve- 
ral books  as  composed  with  such  extraordinary  aid  from  the 
Holy  Ghost,  as  secured  their  freedom  from  errors  (according  to 
Origen,  even  from  faults  of  memory).  Yet  this  was  not  regarded 
as  excluding  the  writer's  own  activity  and  individuality.  Ire- 
naeus,  for  example,  sees  in  Paul  a  peculiar  style,  which  he  attri- 
butes to  the  mighty  flow  of  thought  in  his  ardent  mind.  The 
Alexandrians,  however,  enlarged  the  idea  of  inspiration  to  a 
doubtful  breadth.  Clement  of  Alexandria  calls  the  works  of 
Plato  inspired,  because  they  contain  truth ;  and  he  considers  all 
that  is  beautiful  and  good  in  history,  a  breath  of  the  infinite,  a 
tone,  which  the  divine  Logos  draws  forth  from  the  lyre  of  the' 
human  soul. 

As  a  production  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  his  inspired  organs,, 
the  sacred  scriptures,  without  critical  distinction  between  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  were  acknowledged  and  employed 
against  heretics  as  an  infallible  source  of  knowledge  and  an  uner- 
ring rule  of  Christian  faith  and  practice.  Irenaeus  calls  the 
gospel  a  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth.  Tertullian  demands 
scripture  j)roof  for  every  doctrine,  and  declares,  that  heretics 
cannot  stand  on  pure  scriptural  ground.  In  Origan's  view,, 
nothing  deserves  credit  which  cannot  be  confirmed  by  the  testi- 
mony of  scripture. 

The  exposition  of  the  Bible  was  at  first  purely  practical,  and 
designed  for  direct  edification.  The  controversy  with  the  Gnostics 
called  for  a  more  scientific  method.  Both  the  orthodox  and 
heretics,  after  the  fashion  of  the  rabbinical  and  Alexandrian 
Judaism,  made  large  use  of  allegorical  and  mystical  interpreta- 
tion, and  not  rarely  lost  themselves  amid  the  merest  fancies  and 
wildest  vagaries. 

But  Origen  was  the  first  to  lay  down,  in  connexion  with  the 
allegorical  method  of  the  Jewish  Platonist,  Philo,  a  formal  theory 
of  interpretation,  which  he  carried  out  in  a  long  series  of  exege- 
tical  works.     He  considered  the  Bible  a  living  organism,  con- 

17 


258  .    SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

sisting  of  three  elements  answering  to  the  body,  soul,  and  spirit  of 
man,  after  the  PJ atonic  psychology.  Accordingly,  he  attributed 
to  the  scriptures  a  threefold  sense ;  (1)  a  somatic,  literal,  or  histo- 
rical sense,  furnished  immediately  by  the  meaning  of  the  words, 
but  only  serving  as  a  veil  for  a  higher  idea ;  (2)  a  psychical  or 
moral  sense,  animating  the  first,  and  serving  for  general  edifica- 
tion ;  (3)  a  pneumatic  or  mystical  and  ideal  sense,  for  those  who 
stand  on  the  high  ground  of  philosophical  knowledge.  In  the 
application  of  this  theory  he  shows  the  same  tendency  as  Philo, 
to  spiritualize  away  ihe  letter  of  scripture,  especially  where  the 
plain  historical  sense  seems  unworthy,  as  in  the  history  of  David's 
crimes:  and  instead  of  simply  brijiging  out  the  sense  of  the  Bible, 
he  puts  into  it  all  sorts  of  foreign  ideas  and  irrelevant  fancies. 
But  this  allegorizing  suited  the  taste  of  the  age,  and,  with  his 
fertile  mind  and  imposing  learning,  Origen  was  the  exegetical 
oracle  of  the  early  chiirch,  till  his  orthodoxy  fell  into  dispute. 
He  is  the  pioneer,  also,  in  the  criticism  oi  the  sacred  text. 

In  spite  of  the  numberless  exegetical  vagaries  and  differences 
in  detail,  which  confute  the  Roman  idea  of  a  "  unanimis  consen- 
sus patrum,"  there  is  still  a  certain  unanimity  among  the  fathers 
in  tlieir  way  of  drawing  the  most  important  articles  of  faith  from 
the  scriptures.  In  their  expositions  they  all  follow  one  dogma- 
tical principle,  a  kind  of  analogia  fidei.  This  brings  us  to  tradi- 
tion. 


§  76.  Tradition  and  (lie  Aposihs^  Creed. 

I.  Iren.  :  Adv.  haer.  L  I.  c.  9,  §  5 ;  I.  10,  1 ;  III.  3,  1,  2 ;  III.  4,  2.    Te'rtpll. 

De  praescriptionibus  haereticorum ;  especially  c.  14,  17-19,  21,  35-3G,  40, 
41.  De  Virgin,  veland.  c.  1.  Adv.  Prax.  c.  2.  On  the  other  hand,  Adv. 
ITermog.  c.  22.  De  came  Christi,  c.  7.  De  resurr.  carnis,  c.  3.  Cvpr.  : 
De  unitate  eccl. ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  Epist.  74. 

II.  On  the  Apostles'  Creed  comp.  Rufinus  :  Expos,  in  Symb.  Apost     Pear- 

son :  Exposition  of  the  Creed,  1G59  (Oxf.  1847,  New  York,  1851).     P. 
I         King:  History  of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  Lond.  1702.     J.  W.  Nevin:  The 
Apostles'  Creed,  in  the  ^lerccrsburg  Rev.,  1849. 

Besides  appealing  to  the  Scriptures,  the  flithers,  particularly 


§   76.      TRADITION    AKD   THE   APOSTLES'   CREED.  259 

Irenaeiis  and  Tertullian,  refer  with  equal  confidence  to  the  "  rule 
of  faith  ;"*  that  is,  the  common  faith  of  the  church,  as  orally 
handed  down  in  the  unbroken  succession  of  bishops  from  Christ 
and  his  apostles  to  their  day,  and  above  all  as  still  living  in  the 
original  apostolic  churches,  like  those  of  Jerusalem,  Antioch, 
Ephesus,  and  Eome.  Tradition  is  thus  intimately  connected  with 
the  primitive  episcopate.  The  latter  was  the  vehicle  of  the 
former,  and  both  were  looked  upon  as  a  bulwark  against  heresy. 

Irenaeus  confronts  the  secret  tradition  of  the  Gnostics  with 
the  open  and  unadulterated  tradition  of  the  cathoHc  church,  and 
points  to  all  churches,  but  particularly  to  Eome  as  the  visible 
centre  of  the  unity  of  doctrine.  All  who  would  know  the  truth, 
says  he,  can  see  in  the  whole  church  the  tradition  of  the  apostles ; 
and  we  can  count  the  bishops,  ordained  by  the  apostles,  and 
their  successors  down  to  our  time,  who  neither  taught  nor  knew 
any  such  heresies.  Then,  by  way  of  example,  he  cites  the  first 
twelve  bishops  of  the  Eoman  church  from  Linus  to  Eleutherus, 
as  witnesses  of  the  pure  apostolic  doctrine.  He  might  conceive 
of  a  Christianity  without  scripture;  but  he  could  not  imagine  a 
Christianity  without  living  tradition;  and  for  this  opinion  he 
refers  to  barbarian  tribes,  who  have  the  gospel,  "  sine  charta  et 
atramento,"  written  in  their  hearts. 

Tertullian  thinks  to  have  found  a  universal  antidote  for  all 
heresy  in  his  celebrated  prescription  argument,  which  cuts  off 
heretics,  at  the  outset,  from  every  right  of  appeal  to  the  holy 
scriptures,  on  the  ground,  that  the  scriptures  arose  in  the  church 
of  Christ,  were  given  to  her,  and  only  in  her  and  by  her  can  be 
rightly  understood.  He  calls  attention  also  here  to  the  tangible 
succession,  which  distinguishes  the  church  from  the  arbitrary  and 
ever-changing  sects  of  heretics,  and  which  in  all  the  principal 
congregations,  especially  in  the  original  sees  of  the  apostles, 
reaches  back  without  a  break  from  bishop  to  bishop,  to  the  apos- 
tles themselves,  from  the  apostles  to  Christ,  and  from  Christ  to 
God.     "  Come  now,"  says  he,  in  his  tract  on  Prescription,  "  if 

rcgula  fidei,  lex  fidei. 


260  SECOXD   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

you  would  practise  inquiry  to  more  advantage  in  the  matter  of 
your  salvation,  go  tlirougli  the  apostolic  churches,  in  which  the 
very  chairs  of  the  apostles  still  preside,  in  which  their  own 
authentic  letters  are  pubhcly  read,  uttering  the  voice  and  repre- 
senting the  face  of  every  one.  If  Achaia  is  nearest,  you  have 
Corinth.  If  you  arc  not  far  from  Macedonia,  you  have  Philippi, 
you  have  Thessalonica.  If  you  can  go  to  Asia,  you  have  Eplie- 
sus.  But  if  you  live  near  Italy,  you  have  Rome,  whence  also 
we  (the  African  church)  derive  our  origin.  How  happy  is  that 
church,  to  which  the  apostles  poured  out  their  whole  doctrine 
witli  their  blood,"  &c. 

To  estimate  the  weight  of  this  argument,  we  must  remember 
that  these  fathers  still  stood  comparatively  very  near  the  apos- 
tolic age,  and  that  the  succession  of  bishops  in  the  oldest  churches 
could  be  demonstrated  by  the  living  memory  of  two  or  three 
generations.  Irenacus,  in  fact,  had  been  acquainted  in  his  youth 
with  Polycarp,  a  disciple  of  St.  John.  But  for  this  very  reason 
we  must  guard  against  overrating  this  testimony,  and  employing 
it  in  behalf  of  traditions  of.  later  origin,  not  gi'ounded  in  the 
Scriptures. 

Nor  can  we  suppose  that  those  fiithers  ever  thought  of  a  blind, 
slavish  subjection  of  private  judgment  to  ecclesiastical  authority, 
and  to  the  decision  of  the  bishops  of  the  apostolic  mother  churches. 
The  same  Irenacus  frankly  opposed  the  Roman  bishop  Victor. 
Tertullian,  though  he  continued  essentially  orthodox,  contested 
various  points  with  the  catholic  church  from  his  later  Mon- 
tanistic  position,  and  laid  down,  though  at  first  only  in  respect  to 
a  conventional  custom — the  veiling  of  virgins — the  genuine  Pro- 
testant principle,  that  the  thing  to  be  regarded,  especially  in 
matters  of  religion,  is  not  custom  but  truth.^  His  pupil,  Cyprian, 
with  whom  biblical  and  catholic  were  almost  interchangeable 
terms,  protested  earnestly  against  the  Roman  theory  and  practice 
of  heretical  baptism,  and  in  this  controversy  declared,  in   exact 

'  Christus  vcritatcin  sc,  iioii  consuctudinoni  cognominavit. . . .  Ilacrcscs  non  tam 
novitas  quam  Veritas  rcviiicit.  Quodcunque  adversus  veritatem  sapit,  hoc  erit  hae- 
rcsis,  etiaiu  vctus  consuctudo.     Dc  virg.  vel,  c.  1. 


§    76.      TRADITION     AND   THE   APOSTLES'    CREED.  261 

accordance  with  Tertullian,  that  custom  without  truth  was  only 
time-honored  error.^  The  Alexandrians  freely  fostered  all  sorts 
of  peculiar  views,  which  were  afterwards  rej  ected  as  heretical ;  and 
though  the  ira^a.()o(iig  difo(fToXixy}  plays  a  prominent  part  with  them, 
yet  this  and  similar  expressions  have  in  their  language  a  different 
sense,  sometimes  meaning  simply  the  holy  Scriptures.  So,  for 
example,  in  the  well  known  passage  of  Clement:  "As  if  one 
should  be  changed  from  a  man  to  a  beast  after  the  manner  of  one 
charmed  by  Circe ;  so  a  man  ceases  to  be  God's  and  to  continue 
faithful  to  the  Lord,  when  he  sets  himself  up  against  the  church 
tradition,  and  flies  off  to  positions  of  human  caprice." 

In  the  substance  of  its  doctrine  this  apostolic  tradition  agrees 
with  the  holy  Scriptures,  and  though  derived,  as  to  its  form,  from 
the  oral  preaching  of  the  apostles,  is  really  one  and  the  same  with 
those  apostolic  writings.  In  this  view  the  apparent  contradictions 
of  the  earlier  fathers,  in  ascribing  the  highest  authority  to  both 
Scripture  and  tradition  in  matters  of  faith,  resolve  themselves. 
It  is  one  and  the  same  gospel  which  the  apostles  preached  with 
their  lips,  and  then  laid  down  in  their  writings,  and  which  the 
,  church  faithfully  hands  down  by  word  and  writing  fi'om  one 
generation  to  another. 

But  in  the  narrower  sense,  by  apostolic  tradition  or  the  rule  of 
faith,  xavwv  Trig  'jri'rfTswf,  regula  fidei,  was  understood  a  summary  of 
Christianity,  or  a  compend  of  the  faith  of  the  church.  Such  a 
compend  we  have  to  this  day  in  what  is  called  the  Ajjostles^  Creed, 
the  fundamental  confession  of  all  branches  of  Christendom.  It 
has  been  long  since  established,  that  as  to  form  this  venerable 
document  is  later  than  the  apostles,  but  in  contents  is  truly  apos- 
tolic, and  in  harmony  with  the  New  Testament  throughout.  It 
grew  no  doubt  gradually  out  of  the  confession  of  Peter^  and  the 
trinitarian  formula  of  baptism.^  It  early  became  the  basis  for 
the  instruction  of  catechumens,  and  the  form  of  confession  for 
candidates  for  baptism  on  their  solemn  entrance  into  the  church. 
Thus  it  became  equivalent  to  a  symbol  um,  that  is,  a  sign  of 

'  Consuetudo  sine  veritate  vetustas  erroris  est.     Ep.  74  (contra  Stephanum),  c.  9. 
'■'  Matt.  xvi.  16;   comp.  Jno.  vi.  68,  69.  ^  Matt,  xxviii.  19. 


262  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

recognition  among  the  orthodox  Christians  in  distinction  from 
unbelievers  and  heretics.  It  took  different  forms,  longer  or 
shorter,  in  different  churches.  Hence  we  have  several  such 
apostolic  regulae  fidei  in  Irenaeus,  Tertullian,  Cyprian,  Origen, 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  Rufinus,  &c.  The  Oriental  versions  are  com- 
monly longer,  and  differ  more  from  one  another,  than  the  Latin. 
In  the  earlier  forms  the  article  on  the  descent  into  hell,  the  pre- 
dicate "  catholic"  before  "  church,"  the  "  communion  of  saints," 
and  the  "  life  everlasting,"  are  wanting.  But  though  these  forms 
differ  so  much  in  words  and  in  extent,  and  thus  cannot  be  lite- 
rally the  production  of  the  apostles,  as  a  legend  first  mentioned 
by  Rufinus  (f  410)  would  make  them,  they  yet  agree  in  sub- 
stance ;  and  Tertullian  could  justly  say  of  the  regula  fidei,  as  he 
does  even  in  one  of  his  Montanistic  works,  that  it  is  "una 
c)mnino,  sola  immobilis  et  irreformabilis."  From  the  fourth  cen- 
tury the  Roman  form^  gradually  came  into  general  use  and  sup- 
planted the  others. 

This  oldest  and  shortest  symbol  of  faith  is  also  the  most 
catholic  of  all  creeds,  being  employed  to  this  day  in  catechetical 
and  liturgical  service  throughout  the  Christian  world,  and  f  )rm- 
ing  the  bond  of  unity  for  the  Greek,  the  Roman,  and  the  Evan- 
gelical branches  of  the  church.  Its  great  excellence,  besides  its 
age,  is  its  simple  and  scriptural  character.  It  is  better  adapted 
to  catechetical  and  liturgical  use  than  any  other  symbol,  not  even 
excepting  the  Niccne,  which  most  nearly  resembles  it,  and  is 
really  but  an  expansion  of  the  Apostles'  Creed  in  opposition  to 
the  Arian  denial  of  the  divinity  of  Christ,  It  follows  the  his- 
torical order  of  the  revelation  of  the  triune  God,  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  brings  together,  in  the  most 
simple  and  intelligible  language,  the  leading  flicts  of  this  reve- 
lation from  the  creation  of  the  world  to  tlie  life  everlasting,  as  so 
many  articles  of  faith  and  acts  of  confession,  in  a  strand  liturgical 
epic  for  the  edification  of  the  church. 

'  Hence  called  also  Symbolum  RomanunL 


§    77.      GOD   AND   THE   CREATION"   OF   THE   WORLD.         263 

§  77.  God  and  the  Creation  of  the  World. 

In  exhibiting  the  several  doctrines  of  the  church,  we  must 
ever  bear  in  mind  that  Christianity  entered  the  world,  not  as  a 
logical  system  but  as  a  divine-human  fact ;  and  that  the  New 
Testament  is  not  a  theological  text-book  for  scholars,  but  a  book 
of  life  for  all  believers.  The  doctrines  of  salvation,  of  course, 
lie  in  these  facts  of  salvation,  but  in  a  concrete,  living,  ever  fresh, 
and  generally  intelligible  form.  The  logical,  scientific  deve- 
lopment of  those  doctrines  from  the  word  of  God  and  Christian 
experience  is  left  to  the  church.  Hence  we  must  not  be  sur- 
prised to  find  in  the  period  before  us,  even  in  the  most  eminent 
church  teachers,  a  very  indefinite  and  defective  knowledge,  as 
yet,  of  important  articles  of  fiiith,  whose  practical  force  those 
teachers  felt  in  their  own  hearts  and  impressed  on  others,  as 
earnestly  as  their  most  orthodox  successors.  The  centre  of 
Christianity  is  the  divine-human  person  and  the  divine-human 
work  of  Christ.  From  that  centre  a  change  passed  through  the 
whole  circle  of  existing  religious  ideas,  in  its  first  principles  and 
its  last  results,  confirming  what  was  true  in  the  earlier  religion, 
and  rejecting  the  false. 

Almost  all  the  creeds  of  the  first  centuries,  especially  the 
Apostles'  and  the  Nicene,  begin  with  confession  of  faith  in  God, 
the  Father  Almighty,  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  of  the  visible 
and  the  invisible.  With  the  defence  of  this  fundamental  doc- 
trine laid  down  in  the  very  first  chapter  of  the  Bible,  Irenaeus 
opens  his  refutation  of  the  Gnostic  heresies  ;  saying,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Justin  Martyr,  that  he  would  not  have  believed  the 
Lord  himself,  if  he  had  announced  any  other  God  than  the 
Creator.  He  repudiates  everything  like  an  a  priori  construction 
of  the  idea  of  God,  and  bases  his  knowledge  wholly  on  revela- 
tion and  Christian  experience. 

"We  begin  with  the  general  idea  of  God,  which  lies  at  the 
bottom  of  all  religion.  This  is  refined,  spiritualized,  and  invigo- 
rated b}'-  the  manifestation  in  Christ.  We  perceive  the  advance 
particularly  in  TertuUian's  view  of  the  irresistible  leaning  of 


264  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

the  human  soul  towards  God,  and  towards  the  only  true  God. 
"God  will  never  be  hidden,"  says  he,  "God  will  never  fail 
mankind ;  he  will  always  be  recognised,  always  perceived,  and 
seen,  when  man  wishes.  God  has  made  all  that  we  are,  and  all 
in  which  we  are,  a  witness  of  himself  Thus  he  proves  himself 
God,  and  the  one  God,  by  his  being  known  to  all ;  since  another 
must  first  be  proved.  The  sense  of  God  is  the  original  dowry 
of  the  soul ;  the  same,  and  no  other,  in  Egypt,  in  Syria,  and  in 
Pontus  ;  for  the  God  of  the  Jews  all  souls  call  their  God."  But 
nature  also  testifies  of  God.  It  is  the  work  of  his  hand,  and  in 
itself  good ;  not  as  the  Gnostics  taught,  a  product  of  matter,  and 
intrinsically  bad.  Except  as  he  reveals  himself,  God  is,  accord- 
ing to  Ircnaeus,  absolutely  hidden  and  incomprehensible.  But 
in  creation  and  redemption  he  has  communicated  himself,  and 
can,  therefore,  not  remain  entirely  concealed  from  any  man.  Of 
the  various  arguments  for  the  existence  of  God,  we  find  in  this 
period  the  beginnings  of  the  cosmological  and  physico-theological 
methods.  In  the  mode  of  conceiving  the  divine  nature  we  observe 
this  difference  ;  while  the  Alexandrians  try  to  avoid  all  anthro- 
pomorphic and  anthropopathic  notions,  and  insist  on  the  imma- 
teriality and  spirituality  of  God  almost  to  abstraction,  Tertullian 
ascribes  to  him  even  corporeality ;  though  probably,  as  he  con- 
siders the  non-existent  alone  absolutely  incorporeal,  he  intends 
by  corporeality  only  to  denote  the  substantiality  and  concrete 
personality  of  the  Supreme  Being.^ 

The  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  God,  as  the  eternal,  almighty, 
omnipresent,  just,  and  holy  creator  and  upholder  of  all  things, 
the  Christian  church  inherited  from  Judaism,  and  vindicated 
against  the  absurd  polytheism  of  the  pagans,  and  particularly 
against  the  dualism  of  the  Gnostics,  which  supposed  matter 
coeternal  with  God,  and  attributed  the  creation  of  the  world  to 
the  intermediate  demiurge.     This  dualism  was  only  another  form 

'  Omne  qviod  est  corpus  est  sui  generis.  Xiliil  est  incoqjorale,  nisi  quod  non  est. 
Ilnhciite  igitur  anima  invisibile  corpus,  etc.  (De  carne  Christ!,  c.  11.)  Quis  enlm 
ne-p^iljit,  Deuin  corpus  esse,  etsi  Deus  spiritus  est  ?  Spiritus  enim  corpus  sui  generis 
in  «ua  effigie.     (Adv.  Prax.  a  7.) 


§    77.      GOD   AND   THE   CREATION   OF   THE   WORLD.        265 

of  polytheism,  wliicli  excludes  absoluteness,  and  with  it  all  proper 
idea  of  God. 

As  to  creation:  Irenaeus  and  Tertullian  most  firmly  rejected 
the  hylozoic  and  demiurgic  views  of  paganism  and  Gnosticism, 
and  taught,  according  to  the  book  of  Genesis,^  that  God  made  the 
world,  including  matter,  not,  of  course,  out  of  any  material,  but 
out  of  nothing,  or,  to  express  it  positively,  out  of  his  free,  almighty 
will  by  his  word.  This  free  wil-1  of  God,  a  will  of  love^  is  the 
supreme,  absolutely  unconditioned,  and  all-conditioning  cause 
and  final  reason  of  all  existence,  precluding  every  idea  of  physi- 
cal force  or  of  emanation.  Every  creature,  since  it  proceeds 
from  the  good  and  holy  God,  is  in  itself,  as  to  its  essence,  good.^ 
Evil,  therefore,  is  not  an  original  and  substantial  entity,  but  a  cor- 
ruption of  nature,  and  hence  can  be  destroyed  by  the  power  of 
redemption.  Without  a  correct  doctrine  of  creation  there  can  be 
no  true  doctrine  of  redemption,  as  all  the  Gnostic  systems  show. 
Origen's  view  of  an  eternal  creation  is  peculiar.  His  thought  is 
not  so  much  that  of  an  endless  succession  of  new  worlds,  as  that 
of  ever  new  metamorphoses  of  the  original  world,  revealing  from 
the  beginning  the  almighty  power  of  God.  "With  this  is  con- 
nected his  Platonic  view  of  the  pre-existence  of  the  soul. 

Theological  anthropology  and  soteriology  remained  altogether 
undeveloped  till  the  time  of  the  Pelagian  disputes.  The  cause 
of  the  Christian  faith  demanded  here  the  assertion  both  of  man's 
need  of  redemption,  against  Epicurean  levity  and  Stoical  self- 
sufficiency,  and  man's  capacity  for  redemption,  against  the  Gnostic 
and  Manichaean  idea  of  the  intrinsic  evil  of  nature,  and  against 
every  form  of  fatalism.  The  Greek  fathers,  especially  the  Alexan- 
drian, are  very  strenuous  for  the  freedom  of  the  will,  as  the  ground 
of  the  accountability  and  the  whole  moral  nature  of  man,  and  as 
indispensable  to  the  distinction  of  virtue  and  vice.  In  the  case 
of  Origen  this  is  the  main  pillar  of  his  theological  system.  Ire- 
naeus and  Hippolytus  cannot  conceive  of  man  without  the  two 
inseparable  predicates  of  intelligence  and  freedom.     And  Tertul- 

1  Comp.  Psalm  xxxiii.  9 ;  cxlviii.  5.     John  i.  3.  2  Qen.  L  31. 


266  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

lian  asserts  expressly,  against  Marcion  and  Ilermogenes,  free  will 
as  one  of  the  innate  properties  of  the  soul/  like  derivation  from 
God,  immortality,  instinct  of  dominion,  and  power  of  divination.^ 
On  the  other  side,  however,  Irenaeus,  by  his  Pauline  doctrine 
of  the  causal  connexion  of  the  original  sin  of  Adam  with  the  sin- 
fulness of  the  whole  human  race,  and  especially  Tertullian,  by 
his  view  of  hereditary  sin  and  its  propagation  by  generation,^ 
bore  towards  the  Augustinian  system. 


§  78.  The  Logos,  and  the  Incarnation. 

Petavius  (R.  C.)  :  De  theologicis  dogmaticis.  Par.  1644-50,  in  4  vols.  Later 
ed.  of  Antw.  1700;  Ven.  1721  and  1745,  in  6  vols.  (This  thoroughly- 
learned  Jesuit,  in  his  section  de  trinitate,  has  collected  most  of  the  passages 
of  the  ante-Nicene  fathers,  and  admits,  I.  5,  7.  8,  2,  a  progressive  develop- 
ment of  the  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  of  the  trinity,  for  which 
the  Anglican,  G.  Bull,  severely  censures  him.)  G.  Bull  :  Defensio  fidei 
Nicaenae  de  aeterna  divinitate  FiUi  Dei,  ex  scriptis  catholic,  doctorum, 
qui  intra  tria  ecclesiae  Christianae  secula  floruerunt.  Oxf  1G85.  (Lond. 
1703  ;  also  in  Bish.  Bull's  Complete  Works,  ed.  by  Burton,  184G,  8  vols.) 
Against  him  CLf:RKE  wrote  three  tracts :  Brevis  responsio  ad  Bulli  defen- 
sionem  fidei  Nicaenae.  Lond.  1695.  Martini  :  Gesch.  des  Dogmas  von 
der  Gottheit  Christi  in  den  ersten  4  Jahrh.  Post.  1809  (rationalistic). 
MoHLER  (R.  C.) :  Athanasius  der  Gr.  J^Liinz,  1827  (Bk.  1.  Der  Glaube  der 
Kirche  der  drei  ersten  Jahrh.  in  Betreff  der  Trinittit,  &c.,  p.  1-116).  F.  C. 
Baur:  Die  christi.  Lehre  von  der  Dreieinigkeitu.  Menschwerdung  Gottes 
in  ihrer  geschichtlichen  Entwicklung.  Tiib.  1841-43.  3  vols.  (I.  p.  129- 
341).  G.  A.  Meier:  Die  Lehre  von  der  Trinitiit  in  ihrer  hist.  Entwick- 
lung. Hamb.  1844.  2  vols.  (L  p.  45-134).  J.  A.  Dorxer:  Entwick- 
lungsgeschichte  der  Lehre  von  der  Person  Christi  (1839),  2d  ed.  Stuttg. 
u.  BerL  1845-56.  2  vols.  (I.  p.  122-747).  Robt.  L  Wilberkorce  (first 
Anglican,  then,  since  1854,  R.  C.) :  The  Doctrine  of  the  Incarnation  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  its  Relation  to  Mankind  and  to  the  Church 
(more  doctrinal  than  historical).     4th  ed.  Lond.  1852.     (Ch.  5,  p.  93- 

'  luesse  nobis  rd  aire^oiawv  naturalitcr,  jam  et  Marcioni  ostondimus  ct  Ilormogeni. 
Do  anima,  c.  21.     Comp.  Adv.  Marc.  II.  5  sqq. 

'  Definimus  animam  Dei  fiatu  natam,  imniortalera,  corporalcm,  effigiatam,  substan- 
tia simplicem,  de  suo  stipicntem,  varie  procedentcm,  liborara  arbitrii,  accidentiis  obuox- 
iara,  per  ingcnia  mutabilom,  rationalem,  dommatrieem,  divinatricem,  ex  una  redun- 
dantem.     Do  anima,  c.  2'3. 

*  "Tradux  aiiimao  tradux  peccati."  Ilonce  traduciauism  in  distinction  from  crea- 
tianism,  and  the  doctrine  of  pre-cxistcncc. 


§    78.      THE   LOGOS,    AND   THE   INCARNATION.  267 

147),  also  republ.  Pliilad.  1849.  P.  Schaff  :  The  Conflict  of  Trinitarian- 
ism  and  Unitarianism  in  the  ante-Nicene  age,  Bibl.  Sacra,  And.  1858, 
Oct 

The  Messiahsliip  and  divine  sonsliip  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  first 
confessed  by  Peter  in  the  name  of  all  the  apostles  and  the  eye- 
witnesses of  the  divine  glory  of  his  person  and  his  work,  as  the 
most  sacred  and  precious  fact  of  their  experience,  and  after  the 
resurrection  adoringly  acknowledged  by  the  sceptical  Thomas  in 
that  exclamation,  "My  Lord,  and  my  God!" — ^is  the  founda- 
tion stone  of  the  Christian  church ;  ^  and  the  denial  of  the  mystery 
of  the  incarnation  is  the  mark  of  antichristian  heresy.^  The 
whole  theological  energy  of  the  ante-Nicene  period  concentrated 
itself,  therefore,  upon  the  doctrine  of  Christ  as  the  God-man  and 
Redeemer  of  the  world.  This  doctrine  was  the  kernel  of  all  the 
creeds  used  in  the  initiatory  sacrament  of  baptism,  and  was 
stamped  upon  the  entire  life,  constitution,  and  worship  of  the 
early  church.  It  was  not  only  expressly  asserted  by  the  fathers 
against  heretics,  but  also  professed  by  the  church  in  her  daily 
worship,  especially  in  the  holy  supper  and  the  Easter  festival, 
and  sealed  by  the  sufferings  and  death  of  numberless  confessors 
and  martyrs.  Nay,  life  anticipated  doctrine,  and  Christian  expe- 
rience contained  more  than  divines  could  in  clear  words  express. 
The  divinity  of  Christ,  and  with  this  the  divinity  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  were  from  the  first  immovably  fixed  in  the  Christian 
mind.  But  the  complete  definition  of  this  divinity,  and  of  its 
relation  to  the  Old  Testament  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  unity^ 
of  the  divine  essence — in  a  word,  the  church  dogma  of  the  trinity 
— was  the  work  of  three  centuries,  and  was  fairly  accomplished 
only  in  the  Nicene  age.  In  the  first  efforts  of  reason  to  grapple 
with  these  unfathomable  mysteries,  we  must  expect  mistakes  and 
inaccuracies  of  every  kind.  In  the  apostolic  fathers  we  find  for 
the  most  part  only  the  simple  biblical  statements  of  the  deity 
and  humanity  of  Christ,  in  the  practical  form  needed  for  general 
edification.  Of  those  fathers  Ignatius  is  most  deeply  imbued 
with  the  conviction,  that  the  crucified  Jesus  is  God  incarnate, 

'  Matt.  xvi.  16  sqq.  '^  1  John  iv.  1-3.  3  Movapxta. 


268  SECOND    PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

and  indeed  frequently  calls  bim,  without  qualification,  God. 
The  development  of  Cbristology  in  the  scientific  doctrine  of  the 
Logos  begins  with  Justin  and  culminates  in  Origen.  From  him 
then  proceed  two  opposite  modes  of  conception,  the  Athanasian 
and  the  xVrian ;  of  which  the  former  at  last  triumphs  in  the  coun- 
cil of  Nice,  A.D.  325,  and  confirms  its  victory  in  the  council  of 
Constantinople,  381. 

1.  The  dogma  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  is  the  centre  of  interest. 
It  comes  into  the  foreground,  not  only  against  rationalistic  Monar- 
chiamsm  and  Ebionism,  which  degrade  Christ  to  a  second  Moses, 
but  also  against  Gnosticism,  which,  though  it  holds  him  to  be 
superhuman,  still  puts  him  on  a  level  with  other  aeons  of  the 
ideal  world,  and  thus,  by  endlessly  multiphdng  sons  of  God, 
after  the  manner  of  the  heathen  mythology,  pantheistically  dilutes 
and  destroys  all  idea  of  a  specific  sonship.  The  development  of 
this  dogma  started  from  the  Old  Testament  idea  of  the  word  and 
the  wisdom  of  God ;  from  the  Jewish  Platonism  of  Alexandria ; 
above  all,  from  the  Cbristology  of  Paul,  and  from  the  Logos  doc- 
trine of  John.  This  view  of  John  gave  a  might}^  impulse  to 
Christian  speculation,  and  furnished  it  ever  fresh  material.  It 
was  the  form  under  which  all  the  Greek  fathers  conceived  the 
divine  nature  and  divine  dignity  of  Christ  before  his  incarnation. 
The  term  Logos  was  peculiarly  serviceable  here,  from  its  well 
known  double  meaning  of  "reason"  and  "word,"  ratio  and 
oratio ;  though  in  John  it  is  evidently  used  in  the  Jatter  sense 
alone. 

Following  the  suggestion  of  this  double  meaning,  and  the 
precedent  of  a  similar  distinction  by  Philo,  Justin  Martyr  distin- 
guishes in  the  Logos,  that  is,  the  divine  being  of  Christ,  two 
elements :  the  immanent,  or  that  which  determines  the  revela- 
tion of  God  to  himself  within  himself;  ^  and  the  transitive,  in 
virtue  of  which  God  reveals  himself  outwardly.^  The  act  of  the 
procession  of  the  Logos  from  God^  he  illustrates  by  the  figure 
of  generation,^  without  division  or  diminution  of  the  divine  sub- 


§   78.      THE   LOGOS,    AND   THE   INCARNATION.  269 

stance ;  and  in  this  view  the  Logos  is  tlie  only  and  absolute  Son 
of  Grod,  the  only -begotten.  The  generation,  however,  is  not  with 
him  an  eternal  act,  grounded  in  metaphysical  necessity,  as  with 
Athanasius  and  in  the  later  church  doctrine.  It  took  place  at, 
or  properly  immediately  before,  the  creation  of  the  world,  and 
proceeded  from  the  free  will  of  God.  This  begotten  (but,  it 
would  seem,  not  ante-mundane)  Logos  he  conceives  as  a  hyposta- 
tical  being,  a  person  numerically  distinct  from  the  Father ;  and 
to  the  agency  of  this  person  before  his  incarnation  ^  Justin  attri- 
butes the  creation  and  support  of  the  universe,  all  the  theophanies 
(christophanies)  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  all  that  is  true  and 
rational  in  the  heathen  world.  In  his  efforts  to  reconcile  this 
view  with  monotheism,  he  at  one  time  asserts  the  moral  unity 
of  the  two  divine  persons,  and  at  another  decidedly  subordinates 
the  Son  to  the  Father.  Justin  thus  combines  hypostasianism,  or 
the  theory  of  the  independent,  personal  (h3q30statical)  divinity  of 
Christ,  with  subordinatianism ;  he  is,  therefore,  as  Semisch  in  his 
monograph^  has  conclusively  proved,  neither  Arian  nor  Atha- 
nasian ;  but  his  whole  theological  tendency,  in  opposition  to  the 
heresies,  was  evidently  towards  the  orthodox  system,  and  had 
he  lived  later,  he  would  have  subscribed  the  Nicene  creed.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  Tertullian  and  of  Origen. 

The  further  development  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos  we  find 
in  the  other  apologists,  in  Tatian,  Athenagoras,  Theophilus  of 
Antioch,  and  especially  in  the  Alexandrian  school. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  S23eaks  in  the  very  highest  terms  of 
the  Logos,  but  leaves  his  independent  personality  obscure.  He 
makes  the  Logos  the  ultimate  principle  of  all  existence,  without 
beginning  and  timeless ;  the  revealer  of  the  Father,  the  sum  of 
all  intelligence  and  wisdom,  the  personal  truth,  the  speaking  as 
well  as  the  spoken  word  of  creative  power,  the  proper  author  of 
the  world,  the  source  of  light  and  life,  the  great  educator  of  the 
human  race,  at  last  becoming  man,  to  draw  us  into  fellowship 
with  him  and  make  us  partakers  of  his  divine  nature. 

'  Aoyos  aaapKos.  *  Just.  der  Martjr.  II.  289  sqq. 


270  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.    100-811. 

Origen  felt  the  whole  weight  of  the  christological  and  trini- 
tarian  question,  but  obscured  it  by  his  foreign  speculations,  and 
wavered  between  the  homoousian,  or  orthodox,  and  the  subor- 
dinatian  theories,  which  afterwards  came  into  sharp  conflict  with 
each  other  in  the  Arian  controversj.  On  the  one  hand  he  brings 
the  Son  as  near  as  possible  to  the  essence  of  the  Father ;  not 
only  making  him  the  absolute  personal  wisdom,  truth,  righteous- 
ness, reason,^  but  also  expressly  predicating  eternity  of  him,  and 
propounding  the  church  dogma  of  the  eternal  generation  of  the 
Son.  This  generation  he  usually  represents  as  proceeding  from 
the  will  of  the  Father ;  but  he  also  conceives  it  as  proceeding 
from  his  essence ;  and  hence,  at  least  in  one  passage,  in  a  frag- 
ment on  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  he  already  applies  the  term 
h[i.rjoj<iiog  to  the  Son,  thus  declaring  him  coequal  in  substance  with 
the  Father.  This  idea  of  eternal  generation,  however,  has  a  pecu- 
liar form  in  him,  from  its  close  connexion  with  his  doctrine  of  an 
eternal  creation.  He  can  no  more  think  of  the  Father  without  the 
Son,  than  of  an  almighty  God  without  creation,  or  of  light  without 
radiance.^  Hence  he  describes  this  generation  not  as  a  single, 
instantaneous  act,  but,  like  creation,  ever  going  on.^  But  on  the 
other  hand  he  distinguishes  the  essence  of  the  Son  from  that  of 
the  Father ;  speaks  of  a  difference  of  substance  ;  •*  and  makes  the 
Son  decidedly  inferior  to  the  Father,  calling  him,  with  n^ference 
to  John  i.  1,  merely  Srso^  without  the  article,  that  is,  God  in  a 
relative  sense  (Deus  de  Deo),  also  (Je^Tspog  SsoV,  but  the  Father  God 
in  the  absolute  sense,  o  'heog  (Deus  per  se),  or  auro^so?,  also  the  foun- 
tain and  root  of  the  divinity .^  Hence  he  also  taught,  that  the 
Son  should  not  be  directly  addressed  in  prayer,  but  the  Father 
through  the  Son  in  the  Holy  Ghost.     This  must  be  limited,  no 

'  AiroiTo^iii,  avT(>a\i)^cta^  airuSiziiocrvi'n,  niToSivaiit;,  oOr'SAuyof,  etC. 

"  De  princip.  IV.  28 :  Sicut  lux  nurnquam  sine  splendore  esse  potuit,  ita  nee  Filius 
quidera  sine  Patro  intelligi  potest. 

3  I.  2,  4 :  Est  aoterna  et  sempiterna  gencratio,  sicut  splendor  generatur  a  luce. 
Horn,  iu  Jerem,  IX.  4:  'Ati'  yeovd  b  YlaHip  top  Yi'iii'. 

*  '  E-cniiTni  rrii  oiiaiaf  OF  Tov  moKcmtvov,  which  the  advocates  of  his  orthodoxy,  pro- 
bably without  reason,  take  as  merely  opposing  the  Patripassiaa  conception  of  the 

Ojiovoia 

*  Unyh,  'pi^a  Tils  Ocdrrjroi, 


§   78.      THE   LOGOS,    AND   THE   INCARNATION.  271 

doubt,  to  absolute  worship,  for  lie  elsewhere  recognises  prayer 
to  the  Son  and  to  the  Holj  Ghost.^  Yet  this  subordination  of 
the  Son  formed  a  stepping-stone  to  Arianism,  and  some  disciples 
of  Origen,  particularly  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  decidedly  ap- 
proached that  heresy.  Against  this,  however,  the  deeper  Chris- 
tian sentiment,  even  before  the  Arian  controversy,  put  forth  firm 
protest,  especially  in  the  person  of  the  Koman  Dionysius,  to  whom 
his  Alexandrian  namesake  and  colleague  magnanimously  yielded. 

In  a  simpler  way  the  western  fathers,  including  here  Irenaeus 
and  Hippolytus,  who  labored  in  the  west,  though  they  were  of 
Greek  training,  reached  the  position,  that  Christ  must  be  one 
with  the  Father,  yet  personally  distinct  from  him.  It  is  com- 
monly supposed  that  they  came  nearer  the  homoousion  than  the 
Greeks.  This  can  be  said  of  Irenaeus,  but  not  of  Tertullian. 
And  as  to  Cyprian,  whose  sphere  was  exclusively  that  of  church 
government  and  discipline,  he  had  nothing  peculiar  in  his  specu- 
lative doctrines. 

Irenaeus,  after  Polycarj)  the  most  faithful  representative  of  the 
Johannean  school,  keeps  more  within  the  limits  of  the  simple 
biblical  statements,  and  ventures  no  such  bold  speculations  as 
the  Alexandrians,  but  is  more  sound  and  much  nearer  the  ISTicene 
standard.  He  likewise  uses  the  terms  Logos  and  Son  of  God 
interchangeably,  and  concedes  the  distinction,  made  also  by  the 
Valentinians,  between  the  inward  and  the  uttered  word,^  in 
reference  to  man,  but  contests  the  application  of  it  to  God,  who 
is  above  all  antitheses,  absolutely  simple  and  unchangeable,  and 
in  whom  before  and  after,  thinking  and  speaking,  coincide.  He 
repudiates  also  every  speculative  or  a  priori  attempt  to  explain 
the  derivation  of  the  Son  from  the  Father ;  this  he  holds  to  be  an 
incomprehensible  mystery.^  He  is  content  to  define  the  actual 
distinction  between  Father  and  Son,  by  saying  that  the  former 


1  For  example,  Ad.  Rom.  I.  p.  472:  Adorare  alium  quempiam  praeter  Patrem  et 
Filium  et  Spiritum  sanctum,  impietatis  est  crimen. 

'  The  Xriyis  ivfiia^STOi  aud  X.  TTpofiipiKdf. 

3  Adv.  haer.  II.  38,  6 :  Si  quis  nobis  dixerit :  quomodo  ergo  Films  prolatus  a  Patre 
est?  dicimus  ei — nemo  novit,  nisi  solus,  qui  generavit  Pater  et  qui  natus  est  Filius. 


272  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

is  God  revealing  liimself,  the  latter,  God  revealed ;  the  one  is 
the  ground  of  revelation,  the  other  is  the  actual,  appearing  reve- 
lation itself.  Hence  he  calls  the  Father  the  invisible  of  the  Son, 
and  the  Son  the  visible  of  the  Father.  He  discriminates  most 
rigidl}'-  the  conceptions  of  generation  and  of  creation.  The  Son, 
though  begotten  of  the  Father,  is  still,  like  him,  distinguished 
from  the  created  world,  as  increate,  without  beginning,  and  eter- 
nal. Ail  plainly  showing,  that  Irenaeus  is  much  nearer  the 
Nicene  dogma  of  the  substantial  identity  of  the  Son  with  the 
Father,  than  Justin  and  the  Alexandrians.  If;  as  he  does  in 
several  passages,  he  still  subordinates  the  Son  to  the  Father,  he 
is  certainly  inconsistent ;  and  that  for  want  of  an  accurate  dis- 
tinction between  the  eternal  Logos  and  the  actual  Christ.^  Ex- 
pressions like,  "  My  Father  is  greater  than  I,"  which  apply  only 
to  the  Christ  of  history,  he  refers  also,  like  Justin  and  Origen,  to 
the  eternal  Word.  On  the  other  hand,  he  has  been  charged  with 
leaning  in  the  opposite  direction  towards  the  Sabellian  and  Patri- 
passian  views,  but  unjustly .^  Apart  from  his  frequent  want  of 
precision  in  expression,  he  steers  in  general,  with  sure  biblical 
and  churchly  tact,  equally  clear  of  both  extremes,  and  asserts 
alike  the  essential  unity  and  the  eternal  personal  distinction  of 
the  Father 'and  the  Son.  The  incarnation  of  the  Logos  he  ably 
discusses,  viewing  it  both  as  a  restoration  and  redemption  from 
sin  and  death,  and  as  the  completion  of  the  revelation  of  God 
and  of  the  creation  of  man.  In  the  latter  view,  as  finisher, 
Christ  is  the  perfect  Son  of  Man,  in  whom  the  likeness  of  man  to 
God,  the  similitudo  Dei,  regarded  as  moral  duty,  in  distinction 
from  the  imago  Dei,  as  an  essential  property,  becomes  for 
the  first  time  fully  real.  According  to  this  the  incarnation 
would  be  grounded  in  the  original  plan  of  God  for  the  educa- 
tion of  mankind,  and  independent  of  the  fall ;  it  would  have 
taken  place  even  without  the  fall,  though  in  some  other 
form.     Yet  Irenaeus  does  not  expressly  say  this;    speculation 

'  The  \))"K  '"'TdOKo?  and  the  Xfyc  £  t-iovic. 

"  As  Dnnc'kcr  in  Ida  monograph:  Die  Christologio  des  heil.  Ircniius,  p.  50sqq.,  has 
unanswerably  shown. 


§   78.      THE   LOGOS,    AND   THE   INCARNATION.  273 

on   abstract  possibilities  was  foreign   to   his  realistic  cast   of 
mind. 

Tertullian  cannot  escape  the  charge  of  subordinatianism.  He 
bluntly  calls  the  Father  the  whole  divine  substance,  and  the  Son 
a  part  of  it  ;^  illustrating  their  relation  by  the  figures  of  the  foun- 
tain and  the  stream,  the  sun  and  the  beam.  He  would  not  have 
two  suns,  he  says,  but  he  might  call  Christ  God,  as  Paul  does  in 
Eom.  ix.  5.  The  sunbeam,  too,  in  itself  considered,  may  be 
called  sun,  but  not  the  sun  a  beam.  Sun  and  beam  are  two 
distinct  things  (species)  in  one  essence  (substantia),  as  God  and 
the  Word,  as  the  Father  and  the  Son.  But  we  should  not  take 
figurative  language  too  strictly,  and  must  remember  that  Tertul- 
lian was  specially  interested  to  distinguish  the  Son  from  the 
Father  in  opposition  to  the  Patripassian  Praxeas,  In  other' 
respects  he  did  the  church  Christology  material  service.  He 
propounds  a  three-fold  hypostatical  existence  of  the  Son  (filiatio) :: 
(1)  The  pre-existent,  eternal  immanence  of  the  Son  in  the  Father;, 
they  being  as  inseparable  as  reason  and  word  in  man,  who  was 
created  in  the  image  of  God,  and  hence  in  a  measure  reflects  his 
being  f  (2)  the  coming  forth  of  the  Son  with  the  Father  for  the 
purpose  of  the  creation ;  (3)  the  manifestation  of  the  Son  in  the 
world  by  the  incarnation. 

With  equal  energy  Hippolytus  combated  Patripassianism,  and 
insisted  on  the  recognition  of  different  hypostases  with  equal 
claim  to  divine  worship.  Yet  he,  too,  is  somewhat  trammelled 
with  the  subordinatian  view. 

On  the  other  hand,  according  to  his  representation  in  the 
Homologoumena,  the  Roman  bishops  Zephyrinus  and  especially 
Callistus  favored  Patripassianism.  The  later  popes,  however^, 
were  firm  defenders  of  hypostasianism.  One  of  them,  DionysiuSj 
A.D.  262,  as  we  shall  see  more  fully  when  speaking  of  the  trinity, 

*  Adv  Prax.  c.  9 :  Pater  tota  substantia  est,  Filius  vero  derivatio  totius  et  portio, 
sicut  ipse  profitetur:  Quia  Pater  major  Me  est  (John  xiv.  28). 

"  Hence  he  says  (Adv.  Prax.  c.  5),  by  way  of  illustration :  Quodcunque  cogita- 
veris.  sermo  est ;  quodcunque  senseris  atio  est.  Loquaris  illud  in  animo  necesse 
est,  et  dum  loqueris,  conlocutorem  pateris  serraonem,  in  quo  inest  hacc  ipsa  ratio  qua 
cum  eo  cogitans  loquaris,  per  quem  loquens  cogitas. 

18 


274  SECOND   TERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

maintained  at  once  the  homoousion  and  eternal  generation  against 
Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  and  the  bypostatical  distinction  against 
Sabellianism,  and  sketched  in  bold  and  clear  outlines  the  Nicene 
standard  view. 

§  79.   Christology^  continued. 

2.  Passing  now  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Saviour's  humanity^  we 
find  this  asserted  by  Ignatius  as  clearly  and  forcibly  as  his  divi- 
nity. Of  the  Gnostic  Docetists  of  his  day,  who  made  Christ  a 
spectre,  he  says,  they  are  bodiless  spectres  themselves,  whom  we 
should  fear  as  wild  beasts  in  human  shape,  because  they  tear 
away  the  foundation  of  our  hope.^  He  attaches  great  importance 
to  the  flesh,  that  is,  the  full  reality  of  the  human  nature  of  Christ, 
his  true  birth  from  the  virgin,  and  his  crucifixion  under  Pontius 
Pilate ;  he  calls  him  God  incarnate  ;^  therefore  is  his  death  the 
fountain  of  life. 

Irenaeus  refutes  Docetism  at  length.  Christ,  he  contends 
against  the  Gnostics,  must  be  man,  like  us,  if  he  would  redeem 
us  from  corruption  and  make  us  perfect.  As  sin  and  death  came 
into  the  world  by  a  man,  so  they  could  be  blotted  out  legitimately 
and  to  our  advantage  only  by  a  man ;  though  of  course  not  by  one 
who  should  be  a  mere  descendant  of  Adam,  and  thus  himself  in 
need  of  redemption,  but  by  a  second  Adam,  supernaturally 
begotten,  a  new  progenitor  of  our  race,  as  divine  as  he  is  human. 
A  new  birth  unto  life  must  take  the  place  of  the  old  birth  unto 
death.  As  the  completer,  also,  Christ  must  enter  into  fellowship 
with  us,  to  be  our  teacher  and  pattern.  He  made  himself  equal 
with  man,  that  man,  by  his  likeness  to  the  Son,  might  become 
precious  in  the  Father's  sight.  Irenaeus  conceived  the  humanity 
of  Christ  not  as  mere  corporeality,  though  he  often  contends  for 
this  alone  against  the  Gnostics,  but  as  true  humanity,  embracing 
body,  soul,  and  spirit.  Ho  places  Christ  in  the  same  relation  to 
the  regenerate  race,  which   Adam  bears  to  the  natural,  and 

'  Ep.  ad  Smyrn.  c.  2-5. 

* 'El/  <r<io<(  yfuJ/ztvof  Stdf  (ad  Ephes.  C.    7);    also   Ivwoii   aapKos   Ka'i   rrj'ti'^arrf.      Coiup. 

R(im.  L  3,  4,  ix.  5 ;  1  John  iv.  1-3. 


§   79.      CHRISTOLOGY,    CONTINUED.  275 

regards  him  as  the  absolute,  universal  man,  the  prototype  and 
summing  up^  of  the  whole  race.  Connected  with  this  is  his  beau- 
tiful thought,  found  also  in  Hippolytus  in  the  tenth  book  of  the 
Philosophoumena,  that  Christ  made  the  circuit  of  all  the  stages 
of  human  life,  to  redeem  and  sanctify  all.  To  apply  this  to 
advanced  age,  he  singularly  extended  the  life  of  Jesus  to  fifty 
years,  and  endeavored  to  prove  his  view  from  the  gospels  against 
the  Yalentinians.  The  full  communion  of  Christ  with  men 
involved  his  participation  in  all  their  evils  and  sufferings,  his 
death,  and  his  descent  into  the  abode  of  the  dead. 

TertuUian  advocates  the  entire  yet  sinless  humanity  of  Christ 
against  both  the  Docetistic  Gnostics'^  and  the  Patripassians.^  He 
accuses  the  former  of  making  Christ,  who  is  all  truth,  a  half  lie, 
and  by  the  denial  of  his  flesh  resolving  all  his  work  in  the  flesh, 
his  sufferings  and  his  death,  into  an  empty  show,  and  subverting 
the  whole  scheme  of  redemption.  Against  the  Patripassians  he 
argues,  that  God  the  Father  is  incapable  of  suffering,  and  is 
beyond  the  sphere  of  finiteness  and  change.  In  the  humanity, 
he  expressly  includes  the  soul ;  and  this,  in  his  view,  comprises 
the  reason  also ;  for  he  adopts  not  the  trichotomic,  but  the  dycho- 
tomic  division.  The  body  of  Christ,  before  the  exaltation,  he 
conceived  to  have  been  even  ugly.  This  singular  view,  quite 
common  in  the  early  age  of  the  church,  and  founded  on  a  mis- 
apprehension of  Isa.  liii.  2,  where  the  Messiah  is  figuratively  said 
to  have  "no  form  nor  comeliness,"  is  connected  with  the  aver- 
sion of  the  ancient  church  to  art  and  earthly  splendor,  and  with 
her  servant-form  in  the  period  of  persecution. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  likewise  adopted  the  notion  of  the 
uncomely  personal  appearance  of  Jesus,  but  compensated  it  with 
the  thought  of  the  moral  beauty  of  his  soul.  In  his  effort,  how- 
ever, to  idealize  the  body  of  the  Lord,  and  raise  it  above  all 
sensual  desires  and  wants,  he  almost  reaches  Gnostic  Docetism. 

The  Christology  of  Origen  is  more  fully  developed  in  this 

•  'Ain<>-£(^aXaicoa-(f,  recapitulatio,  a  term  frequently  used  by  Irenaeus.  Comp.  Rom. 
xiii.  9 ;  Eph.  i.  10. 

^  Adv.  Marcionem,  and  De  Carne  Christi.  ^  Adv.  Praxeam. 


276  SECOND  PERIOD.    A.D,    100-311. 

part,  as  well  as  in  the  article  of  the  divine  nature,  and  peculiarly 
modified  by  his  Platonizing  view  of  the  pre-existence  and  pre- 
Adamic  fall  of  souls  and  their  confinement  in  the  prison  of  corpo- 
reity; but  it  is  likewise  too  idealistic,  and  inclined  to  substitute 
the  superhuman  for  the  purely  human.  He  conceives  the  incar- 
nation as  a  gradual  process,  and  distinguishes  two  stages  in  it — 
the  assumption  of  the  soul,  and  the  assumption  of  the  body.  The 
Logos,  before  the  creation  of  this  world,  nay,  from  the  beginning, 
took  to  himself  a  human  soul,  which  had  no  part  in  the  ante- 
mundane  apostasy,  but  clave  to  the  Logos  in  perfect  love,  and 
was  warmed  through  by  him,  as  iron  by  fire.  Then  this  fair 
soul,  married  to  the  Logos,  took  from  the  "Virgin  Mary  a  true 
body,  yet  without  sin ;  not  by  way  of  punishment,  like  the  fallen 
souls,  but  from  love  to  men,  to  effect  their  redemption.  Again, 
Oriijen  distinguished  various  forms  of  the  manifestation  of  this 
human  nature,  in  which  the  Lord  became  all  things  to  all  men, 
to  gain  all.  To  the  great  mass  he  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  ser- 
vant ;  to  his  confidential  disciples  and  persons  of  culture,  in  a 
radiance  of  the  highest  beauty  and  glory,  such  as,  even  before 
the  resurrection,  broke  forth  from  his  miracles  and  in  the  trans- 
figuration on  Mount  Tabor.  In  connexion  with  this  comes 
Origen's  view  of  a  gradual  spiritualization  and  deification  of  the 
body  of  Christ,  even  to  the  ubiquity  which  he  ascribes  to  it  in 
its  exalted  state.  On  this  insufficient  ground  his  opponents 
charged  him  with  teaching  a  double  Christ  (answering  to  the 
lower  Jesus  and  the  higher  Soter  of  the  Gnostics),  and  a  merely 
temporary  validity  in  the  corporeity  of  the  Redeemer.  He  is  the 
first  to  apply  to  Christ  the  term  God-man,^  which  leads  to  the 
true  view  of  the  relation  of  the  two  natures. 

3.  The  doctrine  of  the  mutucd  relation  of  the  divine  and  the 
human  in  Christ  did  not  come  into  special  discussion  nor  reach 
a  definite  settlement  until  the  Christological  controversies  of  the 
fifth  century.  Yet  Irenaeus,  in  several  passages,  throws  out 
important  hints.  He  teaches  unequivocally  a  true  and  indis- 
soluble union  of  divinity  and  humanity  in  Christ,  and  repels  the 

'   Qedi'Ofjomos. 


§   80.      THE   HOLY   GHOST.  277 

Gnostic  idea  of  a  mere  external  and  transient  connexion  of  tlie 
divine  Soter  with,  tlie  human  Jesus.  The  foundation  for  that 
union  he  perceives  in  the  creation  of  the  world  by  the  Logos, 
and  in  man's  original  likeness  to  God  and  destination  for  per- 
manent fellowship  with  Him.  In  the  act  of  union,  that  is,  in  the 
supernatural  generation  and  birth,  the  divine  is  the  active  prin- 
ciple, and  the  seat  of  personality ;  the  human,  the  passive  or 
receptive ;  as,  in  general,  man  is  absolutely  dependent  on  God, 
and  is  the  vessel  to  receive  the  revelations  of  his  wisdom  and 
love.  The  medium  and  bond  of  the  union  is  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  took  the  place  of  the  masculine  agent  in  the  generation,  and 
overshadowed  the  virgin  womb  of  Mary  with  the  power  of  the 
Highest.  In  this  connexion  he  calls  Mary  the  counterpart  of 
Eve,  the  "mother  of  all  living"  in  a  higher  sense;  who,  by  her 
believing  obedience,  became  tlie  cause  of  salvation  both  to  her- 
self and  to  the  whole  human  race,^  as  Eve  by  her  disobedience 
induced  the  apostasy  and  death  of  mankind  ; — a  fruitful  parallel, 
which  was  afterwards  frequently  pushed  too  far,  and  turned,  no 
doubt,  contrary  to  its  original  sense,  to  favor  the  idolatrous  wor- 
ship of  the  blessed  Virgin.  Irenaeus  seems  ^  to  conceive  the 
incarnation  as  progressive,  the  two  factors  reaching  absolute 
communion  (but  neither  absorbing  the  other)  in  the  ascension ; 
though  before  this,  at  every  stage  of  life,  Christ  was  a  perfect 
man,  presenting  the  model  of  every  age. 

Origen,  the  author  of  the  term  "  God-man,"  was  also  the  first 
to  employ  the  figure,  since  become  so  classical,  of  an  iron  warmed 
through  by  fire,  to  illustrate  the  pervasion  of  the  human  nature 
(primarily  the  soul)  by  the  divine  in  the  person  of  Christ. 

§  80.     The  Holy  Ghost. 

Kahnis:  Die  Lehre  vom  heil.  Geiste.  Halle  1847.  (Pt.  I.  p.  149—356.  In- 
complete.) The  doctrine  of  Justin  is  treated  with  exhaustive  thorough- 
ness by  Semisch,  in  his  monograph,  II.  305 — 332. 

'  Et  sibi  et  universe  generi  humane  causa  facta  est  salutis.  (Adv.  haer.  III.  22, 
§4). 

^  At  least  according  to  Dorner,  Christology,  I.  495. 


278  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  far  less  developed,  and 
until  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  was  never  a  subject  of 
special  controversy.  So  in  the  Apostles'  creed,  only  one  article ' 
is  devoted  to  the  third  person  of  the  holy  Trinity,  while  the  con- ' 
fession  of  the  Son  of  God,  in  six  or  seven  articles,  forms  the  body 
of  the  symbol.  Logical  knowledge  appears  to  be  here  still  fur- 
ther removed  than  in  Christology  from  the  living  substance  of 
faith.  This  period  was  still  in  immediate  contact  with  the  fresh 
siDiritual  life  of  the  apostolic,  still  witnessed  the  lingering  opera- 
tions of  the  extraordinary  gifts,  and  experienced  in  full  measure 
the  regenerating,  sanctifying,  and  comforting  influences  of  the 
divine  Spirit  in  life,  suffering,  and  death ;  but,  as  to  the  theo- 
logical definition  of  the  nature  and  work  of  the  Spirit,  it  remained 
in  many  respects  confused  and  wavering  down  to  the  Nicene  age. 

Yet  rationalistic  historians  go  quite  too  far  when,  among  other 
accusations,  they  charge  the  early  church  with  making  the  Holy 
Ghost  identical  with  the  Logos.  To  confound  the  functions,  as  in 
attributing  the  inspiration  of  the  prophets,  for  example,  now  to 
the  Holy  Ghost,  now  to  the  Logos,  is  by  no  means  to  confound  the 
persons.  On  the  contrary,  the  thorough  investigations  of  recent 
times  show  plainly  that  the  ante-Nicene  fathers,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Monarchians  and  perhaps  Lactantius,  agreed  in  the 
two  fundamental  points,  that  the  Holy  Ghost,  tlie  sole  agent  in 
the  application  of  redemption,  is  a  supernatural  divine  being,  and 
that  he  is  an  independent  person ;  thus  closely  allied  to  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  yet  hypostatically  different  from  them  both.  This 
was  the  practical  conception,  as  demanded  even  by  the  formula 
of  ba])tism.  But  instead  of  making  the  Holy  Ghost  strictfy  co- 
ordinate with  the  two  other  divine  persons,  as  the  Niccne  doctrine 
does,  it  commonly  left  him  subordinate  to  the  Father  and  the 
Son. 

So  in  Justin,  the  pioneer  of  scientific  discovery  in  Pncumatology 
as  well  as  in  Christology.  He  refutes  the  heathen  charge  of 
atheism  with  the  explanation,  that  the  Christians  worship  the 
Creator  of  the  universe,  in  the  second  place  the  Son,"  in  the  third 

'  Credo  in  Spiritura  Sanctum.  '  'Ei-  h  'rina  x"'<!"!- 


§   80.      THE   HOLY   GHOST.  279 

rank^  the  proplietic  Spirit ;  placing  the  three  divine  hypostases 
in  a  descending  gradation  as  objects  of  worship.  In  another 
passage,  quite  similar,  he  interposes  the  host  of  good  angels 
between  the  Son  and  the  Spirit,  and  thus  favors  the  inference, 
that  he  regarded  the  Holy  Grhost  himself  as  akin  to  the  angels, 
and  therefore  a  created  being.^  But  aside  from  the  obscurity 
and  ambiguity  of  the  words  relating  to  the  angelic  host,^  the  co- 
ordination of  the  Holy  Ghost  with  the  angels  is  utterly  precluded 
by  many  other  exj^ressions  of  Justin,  in  which  he  exalts  the 
Spirit  far  above  the  sphere  of  all  created  being,  and  challenges 
for  the  members  of  the  divine  trinity  a  worship  forbidden  to 
angels.  The  leading  function  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  with  him,  as 
with  the  other  apologists,  is  the  inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament 
prophets.^  In  general  the  Spirit  conducted  the  Jewish  theocracy, 
and  qualified  the  theocratic  officers.  All  his  gifts  concentrated 
themselves  finally  in  Christ ;  and  thence  they  pass  to  the  faithful 
in  the  church.  It  is  a  striking  fact,  however,  that  Justin  in  only 
two  passages  refers  the  new  moral  life  of  the  Christian  to  the 
Spirit ;  he  commonly  represents  the  Logos  as  its  fountain.  He 
lacks  all  insight  into  the  distinction  df  the  Old  Testament  Spirit 
and  the  New,  and  urges  their  identity  in  opposition  to  the 
Gnostics. 

In  Clement  of  Alexandria  we  find  very  little  progress  beyond 
this  point.  Yet  he  calls  the  Holy  Ghost  the  third  member  of  the 
sacred  triad,  and  requires  thanksgivings  to  be  addressed  to  him 
as  to  the  Son  and  the  Father.^ 


1  'Ek  rpiTTi  Tii^ei,  ApoL  I.  13. 

^  Apol.  L  6  :  'Ekbivov  tc  (i.  e.  Qtov),  koX  tov  Trap'  aiiTuv  Ylov  eXSdvru  itai  SiSi^avra  f}fiS.i 
Tavra  Kai  Tuv  tUv  aXXiov  nrojxiviiiv  koX  i^ofioiovjxlvoiti  liya^iov  ayyiXdiv  aTpardv,  Ylvevfid  ts  to 
npotprjTlKOV  acPoiitSa  Kal  TrpncKVvoviici'. 

3  The  questions  arise,  for  example,  whether  ayytUi  here  is  not  to  be  taken  in  the 
wider  sense,  in  which  Jilstin  often  uses  it,  and  even  apphes  it  to  Christ ;  and  whe- 
ther (jrpaTov  depends  on  ac;36^  S .,  and  not  rather  on  ii&a^avra,  so  as  to  be  co-ordinate 
with  hfiai,  or  with  ravTa,  and  not  with  Yio'i/  and  Ilnma. 

*  Hence  the  frequent  designation,  to  Tlvevjia  T^po^pnTiKov,  together  with  the  other, 
Hvnfia  ayiov ;  and  hence  also  even  in  the  Symb.  Nic.  Constantin.  the  definition : 

Yivsvjia   ....    TO  Xii'Siaiv  fnii  twv  irpoipriToii', 

S  Paed.  III.   p.   311:    'Ev;^aptcrroCi'raf   aineiv  ru)  ftofo)  Ylarpl  koi  Yiw avv  Kal  ra  uyitj 

Ilvc'i  an. 


280  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

Origcn  vacillates  in  his  Pneumatology  still  more  than  in  his 
Christology  between  orthodox  and  heterodox  views.  He 
ascribes  to  the  Holy  Ghost  eternal  existence,  exalts  him,  as  he 
does  the  Son,  far  above  all  creatures,  and  considers  him  the 
source  of  all  charisms,^  especially  as  the  principle  of  all  the  illu- 
mination and  holiness  of  believers  under  the  Old  Covenant  and 
the  New.  But  he  places  the  Spirit  in  essence,  dignity,  and 
efficiency  below  the  Son,  as  far  as  he  places  the  Son  below  the 
Father ;  and  though  he  grants  in  one  passage^  that  the  Bible 
nowhere  calls  the  Holy  Ghost  a  creature,  yet,  according  to  ano- 
ther somewhat  obscure  sentence,  he  himself  inclines  towards  the 
view,  which,  however,  he  does  not  avow,  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
had  a  beginning  (though,  according  to  his  system,  not  in  time 
but  from  eternity),  and  is  the  first  and  most  excellent  of  all  the 
beings  produced  by  the  Logos.*  In  the  same  connexion  he 
adduces  three  opinions  concerning  the  Holy  Ghost ;  one,  regard- 
ing him  as  not  having  an  origin ;  another,  ascribing  to  him  no 
separate  personality ;  and  a  third,  making  him  a  being  originated 
by  the  Logos.  The  first  of  these  opinions  he  rejects  because  the 
Father  alone  is  without  origin  (rxyimv^rog) ;  the  second  he  rejects 
because  in  Matt.  xii.  32  the  Spirit  is  plainly  distinguished  from 
the  Father  and  the  Son;  the  tliird  he  takes  for  the  true  and 
scriptural  view,  because  every  thing  was  made  by  the  Logos.* 
Indeed,  according  to  Matt.  xii.  32,  the  Holy  Ghost  would  seem  to 
stand  above  the  Son  ;  but  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  is  more 
heinous  than  that  against  the  Son  of  Man,  only  because  he  who 
has  received  the  Holy  Ghost  stands  higher  than  he  who  has 
merely  the  reason  from  the  Logos. 

Here  again  Irenaeus  comes  nearer  than  the  Alexandrians  to 

'  Not  as  iiXn  '■■""'  x""^"!'^^""')  ^^  NeanJer  and  others  represent  it,  but  aa  n/r  vXri"  tmv 
jfapiir//.  TTdpcyor,  as  offering  tlie  substance  and  fulness  of  tho' spiritual  gifts  ;  therefore 
a.s  the  dpxn  and  irnyfi  of  them.     In  Joh.  II.  §  6. 

"  Do  rrincip.  I.  3,  3. 

3  In  Joh.  torn.  IT.  §  6:  Ti/tiwreoov — this  comparative,  by  the  way,  should  bo 
noticed  as  possibly  .saying  more  than  the  superlative,  and  perhaps  designed  to  dis- 
tinguish the  Spirit  from   all    creatures — navnav  riv  und  roii  Xlurpu;  6iu  XpioroO  ycvf'"!- 

*  According  to  John  i.  3. 


§   81.      THE   HOLY  TRINITY.  281 

the  dogma  of  the  perfect  substantial  identity  of  the  Spirit  with 
the  Father  and  the  Son ;  though  his  repeated  figurative  (but  for 
this  reason  not  so  definite)  designation  of  the  Son  and  Spirit  as 
the  "hands"  of  the  Father,  by  which  he  made  all  things,  implies 
a  certain  subordination.  He  differs  from  most  of  the  fathers  in 
referring  tlie  Wisdom  of  the  book  of  Proverbs  not  to  the  Logos 
but  to  the  Spirit ;  and  hence  must  regard  him  as  eternal.  Yet  he 
was  far  from  conceiving  the  Spirit  as  a  mere  power  or  attribute ; 
he  considered  him  an  independent  personality,  like  the  Logos. 
"  With  God,"  says  he,^  "  are  ever  the  Word  and  the  Wisdom,  the 
Son  and  the  Spirit,  through  whom  and  in  whom  he  fi^eely  made 
all  things,  to  whom  he  said,  '  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image, 
after  our  likeness.'  "  But  he  speaks  more  of  the  operations  than 
of  the  nature  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Spirit  predicted  in  the 
prophets  the  coming  of  Christ ;  has  been  near  to  man  in  all  divine 
ordinances  ;  communicates  the  knowledge  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son ;  gives  believers  the  consciousness  of  sonship ;  is  fellowship 
with  Christ,  the  pledge  of  imperishable  life,  and  the  ladder  on 
which  we  ascend  to  God. 

In  the  Montanistic  system  the  Paraclete  occupies  a  peculiarly 
important  place.  He  appears  there  as  the  principle  of  the  highest 
stage  of  revelation,  or  of  the  church  of  the  consummation.  Ter- 
tullian  made  the  Holy  Spirit  the  ]3roper  essence  of  the  church, 
bat  subordinated  him  to  the  Son  as  he  did  the  Son  to  the  Father; 
though  elsewhere  he  asserts  the  "  unitas  substantiae."  In  his 
■vdew  the  Spirit  proceeds  "  a  Patre  per  Filium,"  as  the  fruit  from 
the  root  through  the  stem.  The  view  of  the  Trinity  presented  by 
Sabellius  contributed  to  the  suppression  of  these  subordinatian 
ideas. 

§  81.     The  Holy  Trinity. 

Comp.  the  works  quoted,  §  78-80. 

Here  now  we  have  the  elements  of  the  dogma  of  the  Trinity; 
that  is,  the  doctrine  of  the  living,  only  true  God,  Father,  Son, 

'  Adv.  haer.  IT.  20,  §  1. 


282  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

and  Spirit,  of  whom,  through  whom,  and  to  whom  are  all  things. 
This  dogma  has  a  peculiar,  comprehensive,  and  definitive  import 
in  the  Christian  system,  as  a  brief  summary  of  all  the  truths  and 
blessings  of  revealed  religion.  Ilence  the  baptismal  formula  in 
Matt,  xxviii.  19,  which  forms  the  basis  of  all  the  ancient  creeds,  is 
trinitarian ;  as  is  the  apostolic  benediction  also,  in  2  Cor.  xiii.  14. 
This  doctrine  meets  us  in  the  Scriptures,  however,  not  so  much 
in  direct  statements  and  single  expressions,  of  which  the  two 
just  mentioned  are  the  clearest,  as  in  gTeat  living  facts ;  in  the 
history  of  a  threefold  revelation  of  the  living  God  in  the  creation 
and  government,  the  reconciliation  and  redemption,  and  the  sanc- 
tification  and  consummation  of  the  world — a  history  continued 
in  the  experience  of  Christendom.  In  the  article  of  the  Trinity 
the  Christian  conception  of  God  completely  defines  itself,  in  dis- 
tinction alike  from  the  abstract  monotheism  of  the  Jewish  reli- 
gion, and  from  the  polytheism  and  dualism  of  the  heathen.  It 
has  accordingly  been  looked  upon  in  all  ages  as  the  sacred 
symbol  and  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  Christian  church, 
with  the  denial  of  which  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  the  Iloly 
Ghost,  and  the  divine  character  of  the  work  of  redemption  and 
sanctification,  fall  to  the  ground. 

On  this  scrijDtural  basis  the  church  dogma  of  the  Trinity  arose ; 
and  it  directly  or  indirectly  ruled  even  the  ante-Nicene  theology, 
tliouiz;h  it  did  not  attain  its  fixed  definition  till  in  the  Nicene  a^e. 
It  is  prin,iarily  of  a  practically  religious  nature,  and  speculative 
only  in  a  secondary  sense.  It  arose  not  from  the  field  of  meta- 
physics, but  from  that  of  experience  and  worship ;  and  not  as  an 
abstract,  isolated  dogma,  but  in  inseparable  connexion  with  the 
study  of  Christ  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  especially  in  connexion 
with  Christology,  since  all  theology  proceeds  from  "God  in 
Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself"  Under  the  condition 
of  monotheism,  this  doctrine  followed  of  necessity  from  the  doc- 
trine of  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  unity 
of  God  was  already  immovably  fixed  by  the  Old  Testament  as  a 
fundamental  article  of  revealed  religion  in  opposition  to  all  forms 
of  idolatry.     But  the  New  Testament  and  the  Christian  con- 


§    81.      THE   HOLY   TEINITY.  283 

sciousness  as  firmly  demanded  faitli  in  the  divinity  of  the  Sou, 
who  effected  redemption,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  founded 
the  church  and  dwells  in  believers ;  and  these  apparently  con- 
tradictory interests  could  be  reconciled  only  in  the  form  of  the 
Trinity  ;^  that  is,  by  distinguishing  in  the  one  and  indivisible 
essence  of  God ^  three  hypostases  or  persons;^  at  the  same  time 
allowing  for  the  insufficiency  of  all  human  conceptions  and  words 
to  describe  such  an  unfathomable  mystery. 

The  Socinian  and  rationalistic  opinion,  that  the  church  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  sprang  from  Platonism^  and  Neo-Platonism^ 
is  therefore  radically  false.  The  Indian  Trimurti,  altogether 
pantheistic  in  spirit,  is  still  further  from  the  Christian  Trinity. 
Only  thus  much  is  true,  that  the  Hellenic  philosophy  operated 
from  without,  as  a  stimulating  force,  upon  the  form  of  the  whole 
patristic  theology,  the  doctrines  of  the  Logos  and  the  Trinity 
among  the  rest ;  and  that  the  deeper  minds  of  heathen  antiquity 
discovered  a  presentiment  of  a  threefold  distinction  in  the  divine 
essence ;  but  only  a  remote  and  vague  presentiment  which,  like 
all  the  deeper  instincts  of  the  heathen  mind,  serves  to  strengthen 
the  Christian  truth.  Far  clearer  and  more  fruitful  suggestions 
presented  themselves  in  the  Old  Testament,  particularly  in  the 
doctrines  of  the  Messiah,  of  the  Spirit,  of  the  Word,  and  of  the 
Wisdom  of  God,  and  even  in  the  system  of  symbolical  numbers, 
which  rests  on  the  sacredness  of  the  numbers  three  (God),  four 
(the  world),  seven  and  twelve  (the  union  of  God  and  the  world, 
hence  the  covenant  number).  But  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity 
could  be  fully  revealed  only  in  the  New  Testament  after  the  com- 
pletion of  the  work  of  redemption  and  the  outpouring  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

^  Tpiuf ,  first  in  Theopliilus ;  trinitas,  first  in  Tertullian ;  fi-om  the  fourth  centurj' 
more  distinctly  /jovorpiaj,  liovdi  h  rpiait,  triunitas. 

^  Oixjia,  (pi(Ttg,  substantia;  sometimes  also,  inaccurately,  Woa-raais. 

3  TpfTj  iTTO<TTaast(,  rpia  7rf)i5(7co7ra,  personae. 

*  Comp.  Plato,  Ep.  2  and  6,  which,  however,  are  spurious  or  doubtful.  Legg.  lY. 
p.  185  :    'O  ^£.di  OLfij^ijv  re  Kai  Te^cvTtjv  koI  uc<ra  rCiv  otirion  airavTuiv  t')(^(i>v. 

^  Plotinus  in  Enn.Y.  1,  and  Porphyry  in  Cyril.  Alex,  c.  Jul.,  who,  however,  were 
already  unconsciously  affected  by  Christian  ideas,  speak  of  rpsfj  vnoaTaatu,  but  in 
a  sense  alt02:ether  different  from  that  of  the  church. 


284:  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

Again,  it  was  primarily  the  economic  or  transitive  trinity, 
which  the  church  had  in  mind ;  that  is,  the  trinity  of  the  reve- 
lation of  God  in  the  threefold  work  of  creation,  redemption,  and 
sanctification ;  the  trinity  presented  in  the  apostolic  writings  as  a 
living  fact.  But  from  this,  in  agreement  with  both  reason  and 
Scripture,  the  immanent  or  ontologic  trinity  was  inferred;  that 
is,  an  eternal  distinction  in  the  essence  of  God  itself,  which 
reflects  itself  in  his  revelation,  and  can  be  understood  only  so  far 
as  it  manifests  itself  in  his  works  and  words.  The  divine  nature 
thus  came  to  be  conceived,  not  as  an  abstract,  blank  unity,  but 
as  an  infinite  fulness  of  life ;  and  the  Christian  idea  of  God  (as 
John  of  Damascus  has  remarked)  in  this  respect  combined  Jewish 
monotheism  with  the  truth,  which  lay  at  the  bottom  of  even  the 
heathen  polytheism,  though  distorted  and  defaced  there  beyond 
recognition. 

Then  for  the  more  definite  illustration  of  this  trinity  of  essence, 
speculative  church  teachers  of  subsequent  times  appealed  to  all 
sorts  of  analogies  in  nature,  particularly  in  the  sphere  of  the  finite 
mind,  which  was  made  after  the  image  of  the  divine,  and  thus  to 
a  certain  extent  authorizes  such  a  parallel.  They  found  a  sort 
of  tria(l  in  the  universal  law  of  thesis,  antithesis,  and  synthesis; 
in  the  elements  of  the  syllogism ;  in  the  three  persons  of  gram- 
mar ;  in  the  combination  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit  in  man ;  in 
the  three  leading  fliculties  of  the  soul ;  in  the  nature  of  intel- 
ligence and  knowledge  as  involving  a  union  of  the  thinldng  sub 
ject  and  the  thought  object ;  and  in  the  nature  of  love,  as  like- 
wise a  union  between  the  loving  and  the  loved.^  These  specu- 
lations began  with  Origen  and  Tertullian ;  they  were  pursued  by 
Athanasius,  Augustine,  and  by  the  scholastics  and  the  m3"stics ; 
and  they  are  not  yet  exhausted.  For  the  holy  Trinity,  though 
the  most  evident,  is  yet  the  deepest  of  mj-steries,  and  can  be  ade- 
quately explained  by  no  analogies  from  finite  and  earthly  things. 

As  the  doctrines  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  were  but  imperfectly  developed  in  logical  precision  in  the 

'  "  Ubi  amor,  ibi  trinitas,"  says  St.  Augustine. 


§   81.      THE   HOLY  TRINITY.  285 

ante-Nicene  period,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  founded  on  them, 
cannot  be  expected  to  be  more  clear.  We  find  it  first  in  the 
most  simple  biblical  and  practical  shape  in  all  the  creeds  of  the 
first  three  centuries ;  which,  like  the  Apostles'  and  the  Nicene- 
Constantinopolitan,  are  based  on  the  baptismal  formula,  and  hence 
arranged  in  trinitarian  form.  Then  it  appears  in  the  trinitarian 
doxologies  used  in  the  church  from  the  first ;  such  as  occur  even 
in  the  epistle  of  the  church  of  Smyrna  on  the  martyrdom  of  Poly- 
carp.^  The  sentiment,  that  we  rise  through  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
the  Son,  through  the  Son  to  the  Father,  belongs  likewise  to  the 
age  of  the  immediate  disciples  of  the  apostles.^  Thus  far  the 
influence  of  philosophy  upon  this  doctrine  is,  of  course,  beyond 
supposition.     It  began  with  the  apologists. 

Justin  Martyr  repeatedly  places  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit 
together  as  objects  of  divine  worship  among  the  Christians 
(though  not  as  being  altogether  equal  in  dignity  ^),  and  imputes 
to  Plato  a  presentiment  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  Athe- 
nagoras  confesses  his  faith  in  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  who  are 
one  y-o.Ta  ^Jvwjxiv,  but  whom  he  distinguishes  as  to  ^afic,  in  subor- 
dinatian  style.  Theophilus  of  Antioch  is  the  first  to  denote  the 
relation  of  the  three  divine  persons^  by  the  term  Triad.    ■ 

Origen  conceives  the  Trinity  as  three  concentric  circles,  of 
which  each  succeeding  one  circumscribes  a  smaller  area.  God 
the  Father  acts  upon  all  created  being ;  the  Logos  only  upon  the 
rational  creation ;  the  Holy  Ghost  only  upon  the  saints  in  the 
church.  But  the  sanctifj'-ing  work  of  the  Spirit  leads  back  to  the 
Son,  and  the  Son  to  the  Father,  who  is  consequently  the  ground 
and  end  of  all  being,  and  stands  highest  in  dignity  as  the  compass 
of  his  operation  is  the  largest. 

Irenaeus  goes  no  further  than  the  baptismal  formula  and  the 

'  C.  14,  where  Polycarp  concludes  his  prayer  on  the  scaffold  with  the  words, 

MfS-'  ov  (L  e.  Christ)  aoi  (i.  e.  the  Father)  koi  ni'ri/jun  kyiw  f]  S6^a  Kal  vvn  koI  e!g  T')Vi  /if  XA'Ji  - 
Tflj  aiMvas.  Comp.  at  the  end  of  C.  22  :  'O  Kvpioi  'Iijo-.  XpiorSf  .  .  .  .  Z  v  S6^a,  oiv  Uarpl 
Kdi  ay!<-y  TIviVfjiaTt,  Ei'5  rovi  alijjvag  tiov  alwvwv, 

"  In  Irenaeus :  Adv.  haer.  Y.  36,  2. 

'  Comp.  §  80  p.  278  sq. 

*  Gfdf,  Aoyoj,  and  Ho-bia.    By  2';)i ',  like  Irenaeus,  he  means  the  Holy  Ghost. 


286  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.   100-311. 

trinity  of  revelation ;  proceeding  on  tlie  hypothesis  of  three  suc- 
cessive stages  in  the  development  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth,  and  of  a  progressive  communication  of  God  to  the  world. 
He  also  represents  the  relation  of  the  persons  according  to  Eph. 
iv.  6 ;  the  Father  as  above  all,  and  the  head  of  Christ ;  the  Son 
as  through  all,  and  the  head  of  the  church ;  the  Spirit  as  in  all, 
and  the  fountain  of  the  water  of  life.^  Of  a  supramundane  trinity 
of  essence  he  betrays  but  faint  indications. 

TertuUian  advances  a  step.  He  supposes  a  distinction  in  God 
himself;  and  on  the  principle  that  the  created  image  affords  a 
key  to  the  uncreated  original,  he  illustrates  the  distinction  in  the 
divine  nature  by  the,  analogy  of  human  thought ;  the  necessity  of 
a  self-projection,  or  a  making  one's  self  objective  in  word,  for 
which  he  borrows  from  the  Valentinians  the  term  irpoiSoXr,^  or  pro- 
latio  rei  alterius  ex  altera,^  but  without  connecting  with  it  the 
sensuous  emanation  theory  of  the  Gnostics.  Otherwise  he  stands, 
as  already  observed,  on  subordinatian  ground,  if  his  comparisons 
of  the  trinitarian  relation  to  that  of  root,  stem,  and  fruit,  or  foun- 
tain, flow,  and  brook,  or  sun,  ray,  and  raypoint,  be  dogmatically 
pressed.^  Yet  he  directly  asserts  also  the  essential  unity  of  the 
three  persons.^  Tcrtullian  was  followed  by  the  schismatic  but 
orthodox  Novatian,  the  author  of  a  special  treatise  De  Trinitate, 
drawn  from  the  Creed,  and  fortified  with  Scripture  proofs  against 
the  two  classes  of  Monarchians. 

The  Roman  bishop  Dionysius  (a.  d.  262)  stood  nearest  the 
Nicene  doctrine.  He  maintained  distinctly,  in  the  controversy 
with  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  at  once  the  unity  of  essence  and 


1  V.  18,  2.  2  Adv.  Praxean,  c.  8. 

3  Tertius — says  he,  Adv.  Prax.  c  8— est  Spiritus  a  Doo  ct  Filio,  sicut  tertius  a 
radice  Tructiis  ex  frutice,  et  tertius  a  fonte  rivus  ex  flumine,  et  tertius  a  sole  apex  ex 
radio.  Nihil  tamcn  a  matrice  alienatur,  a  qua  proprietates  suas  ducit.  Ita  trinitas 
(here  this  word  appears  for  the  first  time,  conip.  c.  2:  OUovonia  quae  uuitatem  in 
trinitatcra  disponit)  per  consertos  (al.  consortes)  et  coiiucxos  gradus  a  Patre  decurrens 
et  monaroliiae  niliil  ol)9trepit  et  oUovoiiiai  statum  protegit. 

<  C.  2 :  Tres  autem  non  statu,  sed  gradu,  nee  substantia,  sed  forma,  nee  potestate, 
scd  specie,  unius  autem  substantiae,  et  unius  status,  et  unius  potestatis,  quia  unua 
Deus,  ex  quo  et  gradus  isti  et  formac  et  species,  in  nomine  Patris  ct  Fiiii  ct  Spiritus 
Sancti  deputantur. 


§   82.      ANTITMNITARIANS,      FIRST   CLASS.  2S7 

tlie  real  personal  distinction  of  the  tliree  members  of  tlie  divine 
triad,  and  avoided  tritlieism,  Sabellianism,  and  subordinatianism 
with  the  instinct  of  orthodoxy,  and  also  with  the  art  of  anathe- 
matizing already  familiar  to  the  popes.  His  view  has  come  down 
to  ns  in  a  fragment  in  Athanasius,  where  it  is  said :  "  Then  I 
must  declare  against  those  who  annihilate  the  most  sacred  doc- 
trine of  the  church  by  dividing  and  dissolving  the  unity  of  God 
into  three  powers,  separate  hypostases,  and  three  deities.  This 
notion  (some  tritheistic  view,  not  further  known  to  us)  is  just  the 
opposite  of  the  opinion  of  Sabellius.  For  while  the  latter  would 
introduce  the  impious  doctrine,  that  the  Son  is  the  same  as  the 
Father,  and  the  converse,  the  former  teach  in  some  sense  three 
Gods,  by  dividing  the  sacred  unity  into  three  fnlly  separate 
hypostases.  But  the  divine  Logos  must  be  inseparably  united 
with  the  God  of  all,  and  in  God  also  the  Holy  Ghost  must  dwell 
so  that  the  divine  triad  must  be  comprehended  in  one,  viz.  the 
all-ruling  God,  as  in  a  head."^  Then  he  condemns  the  doctrine, 
that  the  Son  is  a  creature,  as  "the  height  of  blasphemy,"  and 
concludes:  " The  divine  adorable  unity  must  not  be  thus  cut  up 
into  three  deities ;  no  more  may  the  transcendent  dignity  and 
greatness  of  the  Lord  be  lowered  by  saying,  the  Son  is  created ; 
but  we  must  believe  in  God  the  almighty  Father,  and  in  Jesus 
Christ  his  Son,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  must  consider  the 
Logos  inseparably  united  with  the  God  of  all ;  for  he  says,  I  and 
my  Father  are  one ;  and  I  am  in  the  Father  and  the  Father  in 
me.  In  this  way  are  both  the  divine  triad  and  the  sacred  doc- 
trine of  the  unity  of  the  Godhead  preserved  inviolate." 

§  82.     Antiirinitarians.     First  Class. 

Besides  the  works  cited  at  §  78,  comp.  Schleiermacher  :  Ueber  den  Gegen- 
satz  der  sabellianisclien  u.  athanasianischen  Vorstellung  von  der  Trinitat. 
Berl.  1822  (Works,  at  Theol.  Vol.  IL).  Lobeg.  Lange  :  Geschichte  u. 
Lehrbegriff  der  Unitarier  vor  der  niciinischen  Synode.     Leipz.  1831. 

That  this  goal  was  at  last  happily  reached,  was  in  great  part 

'  Lriv  ^tiav  rpiioa  ti'j  eva  iocrrrcp  ti'j  Kopvipfii/  rti/a  (rov  Si.'i/  tmi'  oXwr,  T>f  iravToKpaTiipa 
\iy(i))  avyKS<pa\atoia^ni  tc  Kai  avfiyea^ai  naaa  diuyKri.  Athan :  De  decr.  Syn.  Nic.  26 
(Routh,  Reliqu.  iii.  p.  384,  ed.  alt.). 


288  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   lOO-oll. 

due  again  to  those  controversies  with  the  opponents  of  the  cliurch 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  which  filled  the  whole  third  century. 
These  Antitrinitarians  are  commonly  called  Monarchians  or 
Unitarians  on  account  of  the  stress  they  laid  upon  the  unity, 
fjLovap;;(iut,  of  God.  But  we  must  carefully  distinguish  among 
them  two  opposite  classes :  the  rationalistic  or  dynamic  Monar- 
chians, who  denied  the  divinity  of  Christ,  or  explained  it  as  a 
mere  power  ;^  and  the  patripassian  Monarchians,  who  identified 
the  Son  with  the  Father,  and  admitted  at  most  only  a  modal 
trinity,  a  threefold  mode  of  revelation.  The  first  form  of  this 
heresy,  involved  in  the  abstract  Jewish  monotheism,  deistically 
sundered  the  divine  and  the  human,  and  rose  little  above  Ebionism. 
The  second  proceeded,  at  least  in  part,  from  j^antheistic  precon- 
ceptions, and  approached  the  ground  of  Gnostic  docetism.  The 
one  prejudiced  the  dignity  of  the  Son,  the  other  the  dignity  of 
the  Father ;  yet  the  latter  was  by  far  the  more  profound  and 
Christian,  and  accordingly  met  with  the  greater  acceptance. 

The  Monarchians  of  the  first  class  saw  in  Christ  a  mere  man, 
filled  with  divine  power;  but  conceived  this  divine  power  as 
operative  in  him,  not  from  the  baptism  only,  according  to  the 
Ebionite  view,  but  from  the  beginning ;  and  admitted  his  super- 
natural generation  by  the  Holy  Ghost.     To  this  class  belong : 

1.  The  Alogians  -^  a  heretical  sect  in  Asia  Minor  about  a.  d. 
170,  of  which  very  little  is  known.  Epiphanius  gave  them  this 
name  because  in  the  Monarchian  interest  they  rejected  the  Logos 
doctrine  and  the  Logos  Gospel.  In  opposition  to  Montanism 
they  likewise  rejected  Chiliasm  and  the  Apocalypse.  They 
attributed  the  writings  of  John  to  the  Gnostic,  Cerinthus. 

2.  The  TiiEODOTiAXS ;  so  called  from  their  founder,  the 
tanner  Theodotus.  He  sprang  from  Byzantium ;  denied  Christ 
in  a  persecution,  with  the  apology  that  he  only  denied  a  man ; 
but  still  held  him  to  be  the  supernaturally  begotten  Messiah. 
He  gained  followers  in  Eome,  but  was  excommunicated  by  the 
bishop  Victor  (192-202).      After  his  death  his  sect  chose  the 

'  Aii.(/ii{.  *  From  d  and  Xoyuj,  unreasonable  and  opponents  of  the  Logos. 


§   82.      ANTITRINITARIANS.      FIRST  CLASS.  289 

confessor  ISTatalis  bishop,  who  is  said  to  have  afterwards  peni- 
tently returned  into  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic  church.  A 
younger  Theodotus,  the  "  money-changer,"  put  Melchizedek  as 
mediator  between  God  and  the  angels,  above  Christ,  the  medi- 
ator between  God  and  men ;  and  his  followers  were  called  Mel- 
chizedekians. 

3.  The  Artemonites,  or  adherents  of  Artemon,  who  came 
out  somewhat  later  at  Eome  with  a  similar  opinion,  declared  the 
doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  an  innovation  and  a  relapse  to 
heathen  polytheism;  and  was  excommunicated  by  Zephyrinus 
(202-217).  The  Artemonites  were  charged  with  placing  Euclid 
and  Aristotle  above  Christ,  and  esteeming  mathematics  and  dia- 
lectics higher  than  the  gospel.  This  indicates  a  critical  intel- 
lectual turn,  averse  to  mystery,  and  shows  that  Aristotle  was 
employed  by  some  against  the  divinity  of  Christ,  a%  Plato  was 
engaged  for  it.  Their  assertion,  that  the  true  doctrine  was- 
obscured  in  the  Eoman  church  only  from  the  time  of  Zephy- 
rinus^ is  explained  by  the  fact  brought  to  light  recently  through 
the  Philosophoumena  of  Hippolytus,  that  Zephyrinus  (and  per- 
haps his  predecessor  Victor),  against  the  vehement  opposition  ol 
a  portion  of  the  Roman  church,  favored  Patripassianism,  and 
probably  in  behalf  of  this  doctrine  condemned  the  Artemonites. 

4.  Paul  of  Samosata,  from  260  bishop  of  Antioch,  and  at 
the  same  time  a  civil  officer,^  denied  the  personality  of  the  Logos 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  considered  them  merely  powers-  of 
God,  like  reason  and  mind  in  man ;  but  granted  that  the  Eogos 
dwelt  in  Christ  in  larger  measure  than  in  any  former  messenger 
of  God,  and  taught,  like  the  Sociniaus  in  later  times,  a  gradual 
elevation  of  Christ,  determined  by  his  own  moral  development,. to 
divine  dignity.^  To  introduce  his  Christology  into  the  mind  of  the 
people,  he  undertook  to  alter  the  church  hymns,  but  was  shrewd 
enough  to  accommodate  himself  to  the  orthodox  formulas,  calling 
Christ,  for  example,  "  God  of  the  Yirgin,"^  and  ascribing  to  him 
even  homoousia  with  the  Father,  but  of  course  in  his  own  sense. 

'  Euseb.  V.  28.  2  Ducenarius  procurator. 

3  A  ■S-eoTroi'/jo-if  £(c  rrpoKoiriJs.  *  0£of  CK  nap^efov, 

19 


290  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

The  bishops  under  him  in  Syria  accused  him  not  only  of  heresy 
but  also  of  extreme  vanity,  arrogance,  pompousness,  avarice,  and 
undue  concern  with  secular  business ;  and  at  a  council  in  269 
they  pronounced  his  deposition.  But  as  he  was  favored  by  the 
queen  Zenobia  of  Palmyra,  the  deposition  could  not  be  executed 
till  after  her  subjection  by  the  emperor  Aurelius  in  272,  and 
after  consultation  with  the  Italian  bishops.  His  overthrow 
decided  the  fall  of  the  Monarchians  ;  though  they  still  appear  at 
the  end  of  the  fourth  century  as  condemned  heretics,  under  the 
name  of  Samosatenians,  Paulianists,  and  Sabellians. 


§  83.     Second  Class  of  Antitrinitarians. 

TMfe  second  class  of  Monarchians,  called  by  Tertullian  Patri- 
passians  (ae  afterwards  a  branch  of  the  Monophysites  was  called 
Theopaschites),  together  with  their  unitarian  zeal,  felt  the  deeper 
Christian  impulse  to  hold  fast  the  divinity  of  Christ ;  but  they 
sacrificed  to  it  his  independent  personality,  which  they  merged 
in  the  essence  of  the  Father. 

1.  The  first  prominent  advocate  of  the  Patripassian  heresy  was 
Praxeas  of  Asia  Minor.  He  came  to  Rome  under  Marcus 
Aurelius  with  the  renown  of  a  confessor ;  procured  there  the 
condemnation  of  Montanism;  and  propounded  his  Patripas- 
sianism,  to  which  he  gained  even  the  bishop  Victor.  But  Ter- 
tullian met  him  in  vindication  at  once  of  Montanism  and  of 
hypostasianism  with  crushing  logic,  and  charged  him  with  having 
executed  at  Rome  two  commissions  of  the  devil :  having  driven 
away  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  having  crucified  the  Father.^  Ac- 
cording to  Tertullian,  Praxeas,  constantly  appealing  to  Is.  xlv. 
5  ;  Jno.  X.  30  ("  I  and  my  Father  are  one"),  and  xiv.  9  sq.  ("  He 
that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father"),  as  if  the  whole  Bible 
consisted  of  these  three  passages,  taught  that  the  Father  himself 
became  man,  hungered,  thirsted,  suffered,  and  died  in  Christ. 
True,  he  would  not  be  understood  as  speaking  directly  of  a  suf- 

*  "  Paracletum  fugavit  ct  Patrera  crucifixit." 


§   83.      SECOND   CLASS   OF   ANTITRINITAEIAJSTS.  291 

fering  (pati)  of  tlie  Father,  but  only  of  a  sympathy  (copati)  of  the 
Father  with  the  Son ;  but  in  any  case  he  lost  the  independent 
personality  of  the  Son.  He  conceived  the  relation  of  the  Father 
to  the  Son  as  like  that  of  the  spirit  to  the  flesh.  The  same  sub- 
ject, as  spirit,  is  the  Father ;  as  flesh,  the  Son.  He  thought  the 
Catholic  doctrine  tritheistic. 

2.  NoETUS  of  Smyrna  published  the  same  view  about  A.D.  200, 
appealing  also  to  Rom.  ix.  5,  where  Christ  is  called  the  one  God 
over  all.  When  censured  by  a  council  he  argued  in  vindication 
of  himself,  that  his  doctrine  enhanced  the  glory  of  Christ.^  The 
author  of  the  Philosophoumena  places  him  in  connexion  with  the 
pantheistic  philoso|)hy  of  Heraclitus,  whoj  as  we  here  for  the  first 
time  learn,  viewed  nature  as  the  harmony  of  all  antitheses,  and 
called  the  universe  at  once  dissoluble  and  indissoluble,  originated 
and  unoriginated,  mortal  and  immortal ;  and  thus  Noetus  sup- 
posed that  the  same  divine  subject  must  be  able  to  combine  oppo- 
site attributes  in  itself. 

3.  Callistus  (pope  Calixtus  I.)  adopted  and  advocated  the 
doctrine  of  Noetus,  which  Epigonus  and  Cleomenes,  disciples  of 
Noetus,^  propagated  in  Rome  under  favor  of  pope  Zephyrinus. 
He  declared  the  Son  merely  the  manifestation  of  the  Father  in 
human  form ;  the  Father  animating  the  Son,  as  the  spirit  ani- 
mates the  body,^  and  suffering  with  him  on  the  cross.  "  The 
Father,"  says  he,  "  who  was  in  the  Son,  took  flesh  and  made  it 
Grod,  uniting  it  with  himself  and  made  it  one.  Father  and  Son 
were  therefore  the  name  of  the  one  God,  and  this  one  person  * 
cannot  be.  two ;  thus  the  Father  suffered  with  the  Son."  He 
considered  his  opponents  "  ditheists,"  ^  and  they  in  return  called 
his  followers  "  Callistians." 

These  and  other  disclosures  respecting  the  church  at  Rome 
during  the  first  quarter  of  the  third  century,  we  owe,  as  already 
observed,  to  the  ninth  book  of  the  Philosophoumena  of  Hip- 
polytus,  who  was,  however,  it  must  be  remembered,  the  leading 

'  Ti  ovf  KaKOV  TTitM^  he  asked,  iu^ii^Mv  rdv  ^picrov; 

2  Not  his  teachers,  as  was  supposed  by  former  historians,  including  Neander. 

3  JnO.  Xiv.   11.  ^    riooacjTTJi'.  *  Ai^€oi. 


292  SECOND   PERIOD,   A.D.    100-311. 

opponent  and  rival  of  Callistus,  and  in  bis  own  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  inclined  to  the  opposite  subordinatian  extreme.  He  calls 
Callistus,  evidently  with  passion,  an  "  unreasonable  and  treach- 
erous man,  who  brought  together  blasphemies  from  above  and 
below,  only  to  speak  against  the  truth,  and  was  not  ashamed  to 
fall  now  into  the  error  of  Sabellius,  now  into  that  of  Theodotus" 
(of  which  latter,  however,  he  shows  no  trace).  After  the  death 
of  Callistus,  who  occupied  the  papal  chair  between  218  and  223 
or  224,  Patripassianisra  disappeared  from  the  Roman  church, 

4,  Beryllus  of  Bostra,  in  Arabia,  From  him  we  have  only 
a  somewhat  obscure  and  very  variously  interpreted  passage  pre- 
served in  Eusebius,^  He  denied  the  personal  pre-existence^  and 
in  general  the  independent  divinity^  of  Christ,  but  at  the  same 
time  asserted  the  indwelling  of  the  divinity  of  the  Father*  in  him 
during  his  earthly  life.  He  forms,  in  some  sense,  the  stepping- 
stone  from  simple  Patripassianism  to  Sabellian  modalism.  At 
an  Arabian  synod  in  244,  where  the  presbyter  Origen,  then  him- 
self accused  of  heresy,  was  called  into  consultation,  Beryllus  was 
convinced  of  his  error  by  that  great  teacher,  and  was  persuaded 
particularly  of  the  existence  of  a  human  soul  in  Christ,  in  place 
of  which  he  had  probably  put  his  "jrarpixvg  Sjott;;:,  as  Apollinaris 
in  a  later  period  put  the  Xdyo?.  He  is  said  to  have  thanked 
Origen  afterwards  for  his  instruction.  Here  we  have  one  of  the 
very  few  theological  disputations  which  have  resulted  in  unity 
instead  of  greater  division. 

5.  Sabellius,  we  learn  from  the  Philosophoumena,  spent 
some  time  in  Rome  in  the  beginning  of  the  third  cejitury,  and 
was  first  gained  by  Callistus  to  Patripassianism,  but  when  the 
latter  became  bishop,  about  220,  he  was  excommunicated.^  Af- 
terwards we  find  him  presbyter  of  Ptolemais  in  Egypt.  There 
his  heresy,  meantime  modified,  found  so  much  favor,  that  Diony- 
sius,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  excommunicated  him  at  a  council  in 


»  H.  E.  VI.  33. 

2  'IJj'a  oiaiai  ncpiyn^ifi'i,  i.  c.  a  circutnscribcd,  limited,  Separate  existence. 

3  'T«5iu  ^cirns.  *  'H  narpiKfi  dcdrrii. 

6  Or  was  this  possibly  anotlicr  Sabellius? 


§   83.      SECOND    CLASS   OF   ANTITRINITARIANS.  293 

that  city  in  261,  and,  in  vehement  opposition  to  him,  declared 
in  ahnost  Arian  terms  for  the  hypostatical  independence  and 
subordination  of  the  Son  in  relation  to  the  Father.  This  led 
the  Sabellians  to  complain  of  that  bishop  to  Dionysius  of  Eome, 
who  held  a  council  in  262,  and  in  a  special  treatise  controverted 
Sabellianism,  as  well  as  subordinatianism  and  tritheism,  with 
nice  orthodox  tact.^  The  bishop  of  Alexandria  very  cheerfully 
yielded,  and  retracted  his  assertion  of  the  creaturely  inferiority 
of  the  Son  in  favor  of  the  orthodox  o^oourfjo^.  Thus  the  strife 
was  for  a  while  allayed,  to  be  renewed  with  still  greater  violence 
by  Arius  half  a  century  later. 

Sabellius  is  by  far  the  most  original,  ingenious,  and  profound 
of  the  Monarchians.  His  system  is  known  to  us  only  from  a 
few  fragments,  and  some  of  these  not  altogether  consistent,  in 
Athanasius  and  other  fathers.  It  was  very  fully  developed, 
and  has  been  revived  in  modern  times  by  Schleiermacher  in  a 
peculiarly  modified  form. 

While  the  other  Monarchians  confine  their  inquiry  to  the 
relation  of  Father  and  Son,  Sabelhus  embraces  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  his  speculation,  and  reaches  a  trinity,  not  a  simultaneous 
trinity  of  essence,  however,  but  only  a  successive  trinity  of  reve- 
lation. He  starts  from  a  distinction  of  the  monad  and  the  triad 
in  the  divine  nature.  His  fundamental  thought  is,  that  the 
unity  of  God,  without  distinction  in  itself,  unfolds  or  extends 
itself^  in  the  course  of  the  world's  development  in  three  different 
forms  and  periods  of  revelation,^  and,  after  the  completion  of 
redemption,  returns  into  unity.  The  Father  reveals  himself  in 
the  giving  of  the  law  or  the  Old  Testament  economy  (not  in  the 
creation  also ;  this  in  his  view  precedes  the  trinitarian  revela- 
tion) ;  the  Son,  in  the  incarnation ;  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  inspira- 
tion. He  illustrates  the  trinitarian  relation  by  comparing  the 
Father  to  the  disc  of  the  sun,  the  Son  to  its  enlightening  power, 
the  Spirit  to  its  warming  influence.     He  is  said  also  to  have 

'    Comp,  the  close  of  §  81  above.  "^   'H  jxuvaq  TrXarw^iTaa  yiyui/c  rpids. 

3  'Oi'Ofiara,  TrpoVtoTrn, — not  in  the  orthodox  sense  of  the  term,  however,  but  in  the 
primary  sense  of  mask,  or  part  (in  a  play). 


294  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

lilvened  the  Father  to  the  body,  the  Son  to  the  soul,  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  the  spirit  of  man  ;  but  this  is  unworthy  of  his  evident 
speculative  discrimination.  Ilis  view  of  the  Logos/  too,  is  pecu- 
liar. The  Logos  is  not  identical  with  the  Son,  but  is  the  monad 
itself  in  its  transition  to  triad ;  that  is,  God  conceived  as  vital 
motion  and  creating  principle,  the  speaking  God,^  in  distinction 
from  the  silent  God.^  Each  ■tfpoo'wTrov  is  another  Siakiysd'hai,  and 
the  three  *porfw*a  together  are  only  successive  evolutions  of  the 
Logos  or  the  worldward  aspect  of  the  divine  nature.  As  the 
Logos  proceeded  from  God,  so  he  returns  at  last  into  him,  and 
the  process  of  trinitarian  development*  closes. 

Athanasius  traced  the  doctrine  of  Sabellius  to  the  Stoic  phi- 
losophy. The  common  element  is  the  pantheistic  leading  view 
of  an  expansion  and  contraction^  of  the  divine  nature  immanent 
in  the  world.  In  the  Pythagorean  system  also,  in  the  Gospel 
of  the  Egyptians,  and  in  the  pseudo-Clementine  Homilies,  there 
are  kindred  ideas.  But  the  originality  of  Sabellius  cannot  be 
brought  into  question  by  these.  His  theory  broke  the  way  for 
the  Nicene  church  doctrine,  by  its  full  co-ordination  of  the  three 
persons.  He  differs  from  the  orthodox  standard  mainly  in  de- 
nying the  ..trinity  of  essence  and  the  permanence  of  the  trinity 
of  manifestation ;  making  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  only 
temporary  phenomena,  which  falfil  their  mission  and  return 
into  the  abstract  monad. 

§  84.  Redemption. 

CoTTA :  Histor.  doctrinse  de  redemptione  sanj^uine  J.  Clir.  facta  (in  Gerhard : 
Loci  theol,  vol.  iv.  p.  105-134).  Ziegler  :  Hist,  dop^matis  de  redemp- 
tione. Gott.  1791  (rationalistic).  K.  Baehr:  Die  Lehre  der  Kirche  vom 
Tode  Jesu  in  den  drei  ersten  Jahrli.,  Sulzb.  1832  (against  the  orthodox 
doctrine  of  the  satisfadio  vicaria).  F.  C.  Baur  :  Die  christl.  Lehre  von 
der  Versohnung  in  ihrer  geschichtl.  Entw.  von  der  jiltesten  Zeit  bis  auf 
die  neueste.  Tiib.  1838  (p.  23-67;  very  learned  and  speculative  but 
resulting   in   Hegelian   pantheism).     L.    Duncker:    Des  heil.  Irenaeus 

'  Which  has  been  for  the  tirst  time  duly  brought  out  by  Dr.  Baur. 
5  "ExruTts,  or  -Xnrv^jiiii.  and  o-yuroXi?. 


§   84.      REDEMPTION.  295 

Christologie.  Gott.  1843  (p.  217  sqq. ;  purely  objective).  Baumgarten 
Cbusius  :  Compendium  der  christl.  Dogmengeschichte.  Leipz.  2d  Eart, 
1846,  §  95  sqq.  (p.  257  sqq.) 

The  work  of  the  triune  God,  in  his  self-revelation,  is  the  sal- 
vation, or  redemption  and  reconciliation  of  the  world :  nega- 
tively, the  emancipation  of  humanity  from  the  guilt  and  power 
of  sin  and  death ;  positively,  the  communication  of  the  right- 
eousness and  life  of  fellowship  with  God.  First,  the  discord 
between  the  Creator  and  the  creature  must  be  adjusted ;  and 
then  man  can  be  carried  onward  to  his  destined  perfection.  Ee- 
conciliation  with  God  is  the  ultimate  aim  of  every  religion.  In 
heathenism  it  was  only  darkly  guessed  and  felt  after,  and  anti- 
cipated in  perverted,  fleshly  forms.  In  Judaism  it  was  divinely 
promised,  typically  foreshadowed,  and  historically  prepared.  In 
Christianity  it  is  revealed  in  objective  reality,  according  to  the 
eternal  counsel  of  the  love  and  wisdom  of  God,  through  the  life, 
death,  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  is  being  continually  ap- 
plied subjectively  to  individuals  in  the  church  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  through  the  means  of  grace,  on  condition  of  repentance 
and  faith.  Christ  is,  exclusively  and  absolutely,  the  Saviour  of 
the  world,  and  the  Mediator  between  God  and  man. 

The  apostolic  scriptures,  in  the  fulness  of  their  inspiration, 
everywhere  bear  witness  of  this  salvation  wrought  through 
Christ,  as  a  living  fact  of  experience.  But  it  required  time  for 
the  profound  ideas  of  a  Paul  and  a  John  to  come  up  clearly  to 
the  view  of  the  church ;  indeed,  to  this  day  they  remain  unfa- 
thomed.  Here  again  experience  anticipated  theology.  The 
church  lived  from  the  first  on  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ. 
The  cross  ruled  all  Christian  thought  and  conduct,  and  fed  the 
spirit  of  martyrdom.  But  the  primitive  church  teachers  lived 
more  in  the  thankful  enjoyment  of  redemption,  than  in  logical 
reflection  upon  it.  We  perceive  in  their  exhibitions  of  this 
blessed  mystery  the  language  rather  of  enthusiastic  feeling,  than 
of  careful  definition  and  acute  analysis.  Moreover,  this  doctrine 
was  never,  like  Christology  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  a 
subject  of  special  controversy  within  the  ancient  church.      The 


296  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.    lUU-oll. 

oecumenical  symbols  touch  it  only  in  general  terms.  The  Apos- 
tles' Creed  presents  it  in  the  article  on  the  forgiveness  of  sins  on 
the  ground  of  the  divine-human  life  and  passion  of  Christ.  The 
Nicene  Creed  says,  a  little  more  definitely,  that  Christ  became 
man  for  our  salvation,^  and  died  for  us,  and  rose  again. 

Nevertheless,  all  the  essential  elements  of  the  later  church 
doctrine  of  redemption  may  be  found,  either  expressed  or  im- 
plied, before  the  close  of  the  second  century.  The  negative 
part  of  the  doctrine,  the  subjection  of  the  devil,  the  prince 
of  the  kingdom  of  sin  and  death,  was  naturally  most  dwelt  on 
in  the  patristic  period,  on  account  of  the,  existing  conflict  of 
Christianity  with  heathenism,  which  was  regarded  as  wholly 
ruled  by  Satan  and  demons.  Even  in  the  New  Testament,  par- 
ticularly in  Col.  ii.  15,  Ileb.  ii.  1-i,  and  1  John  iii.  8,  the  victory 
over  the  devil  is  made  an  integral  part  of  the  work  of  Christ. 
But  this  view  was  carried  out  in  the  early  church  in  a  very 
peculiar  and,  to  some  extent,  mythical  way ;  and  in  this  form 
continued  current,  until  the  satisfaction  theory  of  Anselm  gave 
a  new  turn  to  the  development  of  the  dogma.  The  victory  over 
Satan  was  conceived  now  as  a  legal  ransom  of  man  from  him  by 
the  payment  of  a  stipulated  price,  to  wit,  the  death  of  Christ ; 
now  as  a  cheat  upon  him,^  either  intentional  and  deserved,  or 
due  to  his  own  infatuation. 

The  theological  development  of  the  doctrine  of  the  work  of  Chi'ist 
began  with  the  struggle  against  Jewish  and  heathen  influences,  and 
at  the  same  time  with  the  development  of  the  doctrine  of  the  person 
of  Christ,  which  is  inseparable  from  that  of  his  work,  and  indeed 
fundamental  to  it.  Ebionism,  with  its  deistic  and  legal  spirit, 
could  not  raise  its  view  above  the  prophetic  office  of  Christ  to 
the  priestly  and  the  kingly,  but  saw  in  him  only  a  new  teacher 
and  legislator.  Gnosticism,  from  the  naturalistic  and  pantheistic 
position  of  heathendom,  looked  upon  redemption  as  a  physical 
and  intellectual  process,  liberating  the  spirit  from  the  bonds  of 
matter,  the  supposed  principle  of  evil ;  reduced  the  human  life 

i      ■>  Ai'<  r(>  /(/itrtpuf  ffurijpiuv.  2  1  Cor.  ii.  8,  misapprehended. 


§   84..     REDEMPTION.  297 

and  passion  of  Clirist  to  a  vain  show ;  and  could  ascribe  at  best 
only  a  symbolical  virtue  to  his  death.  For  this  reason  even 
Ignatius,  Irenaeus,  and  Tertullian,  in  their  opposition  to  doce- 
tism,  insist  so  earnestly  on  the  reality  of  the  humanity  and  death 
of  Jesus  as  the  source  of  our  reconciliation  with  God.^ 

In  Justin  Martyr  and  the  Epistle  to  Diognetus  appear  traces 
of  the  doctrine  of  satisfaction,  though  in  very  indefinite  terms. 

Irenaeus  is  the  first  of  all  the  church  teachers,  to  give  a  careful 
analysis  of  the  work  of  redemption,  and  his  view  is  by  far  the 
deepest  and  soundest  we  find  in  the  first  three  centuries.  Christ, 
he  teaches,  as  the  second  Adam,  repeated  in  himself  the  entire 
life  of  man,  from  birth  to  death  and  hades,  from  childhood  to 
manhood,  and  as  it  were  summed  up  that  life  and  brought  it 
under  one  head,^  with  the  double  purpose  of  restoring  humanity 
from  its  fall  and  carrying  it  to  perfection.  Eedemption  com- 
prises the  taking  away  of  sin  by  the  perfect  obedience  of  Christ ; 
the  destruction  of  death  by  victory  over  the  devil ;  and  the  com- 
munication of  a  new  divine  life  to  man.  To  accomplish  this 
work,  the  Redeemer  must  unite  in  himself  the  divine  and  human 
natures;  for  only  as  God  could  he  do  what  man  could  not, 
and  only  as  man  could  he  do  in  a  legitimate  way,  what  man 
should.  By  the  voluntary  disobedience  of  Adam  the  devil 
gained  a  power  over  man,  but  in  an  unfair  way,  by  fraud.^  By 
the  voluntary  obedience  of  Christ  that  power  was  wrested  from 
him  by  lawful  means.''  This  took  place  first  in  the  temptation, 
in  which  Christ  renewed  or  recapitulated  the  struggle  of  Adam 
with  Satan,  but  defeated  the  seducer,  and  thereby  liberated  man 
from  his  thraldom.  But  then  the  whole  life  of  Christ  was  a  con- 
tinuous victorious  conflict  with  Satan,  and  a  constant  obedience 
to  God.  This  obedience  completed  itself  in  the  suffering  and 
death  on  the  tree  of  the  cross,  and  thus  blotted  out  the  disobe- 
dience which  the  first  Adam  had  committed  on  the  tree  of  know- 

'  Comp.  §  79. 

2  This,  as  already  intimated  in  a  former  connexion,  is  the  sense  of  bis  frequent 
expression:  ' Ai'aicipiXatovi',  diniKepaXaiuiaii,  recapitulare,  recapitulatio. 

3  Dissuasio. 

■*  By  suadela.  persuasion,  anuouneeraent  of  truth,  not  overreaching  or  deception. 


298  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

ledge.  This,  however,  is  only  the  negative  side.  To  this  is 
added,  as  already  remarked,  the  communication  of  a  new  divine 
princijDle  of  life,  and  the  perfecting  of  the  idea  of  humanity  first 
effected  by  Christ. 

Origen  differs  from  Irenaeus  in  considering  man,  in  conse- 
quence of  sin,  the  lawful  property  of  Satan,  and  in  representing 
the  victory  over  Satan  as  an  outwitting  of  tlie  enemy,  who  had 
no  claim  to  the  sinless  soul  of  Jesus,  and  therefore  could  not 
keep  it  in  death.  The  ransom  was  paid,  not  to  God,  but  to 
Satan,  who  thereby  lost  his  right  in  man.  Here  Origen  touches 
on  mythical  Gnosticism.  He  contemplates  the  death  of  Christ, 
however,  from  other  points  of  view  also,  as  an  atoning  sacrifice 
of  love  offered  to  God  for  the  sins  of  the  world ;  as  the  highest 
proof  of  perfect  obedience  to  God ;  and  as  an  example  of  patience. 
He  singularly  extends  the  virtue  of  this  redemption  to  the  whole 
spirit  world,  to  fallen  angels  as  well  as  men,  in  connexion  with 
his  hypothesis  of  a  final  restoration.  The  only  one  of  the  fathers 
who  accomj)anies  him  in  this  is  Gregory  of  Nyssa. 

The  doctrine  of  the  subjective  appropriation  of  salvation,  the 
doctrine  of  faith,  justification,  and  sanctification,  was  as  yet  far 
less  perfectly  formed  than  the  objective  dogma;  and  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  must  follow  the  latter.  If  any  one  expects  to 
find  in  this  period,  or  in  any  of  the  church  fathers,  Augustine 
himself  not  excepted,  the  Protestant  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  alone  as  the  "articulus  stantis  aut  cadentis  ecclesiae,"  he 
will  be  greatly  disappointed.  The  incarnation  of  the  Logos,  his 
true  divinity  and  true  humanity,  stand  most  unmistakably  in  the 
foreground,  as  the  fundamental  dogma.  Paul's  doctrine  of  justi- 
fication, except  perhaps  in  Clement  of  Rome,  wlio  joins  it  with 
the  doctrine  of  James,  is  left  very  much  out  of  view,  and  awaits 
the  age  of  the  reformation  to  be  more  thoroughly  established  and 
understood.  The  fathers  lay  chief  stress  on  sanctification  and 
good  works,  and  show  the  already  existing  germs  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  doctrine  of  the  meritoriousness  and  even  the  superero- 
gatory meritoriousness  of  Christian  virtue. 

The  doctrine  of  the  church,  as  the  communion  of  grace,  we 


§  85.      CHILIASM.  299 

sliall  better  consider  in  the  section  on  tlie  constitution  of  the 
church  ;^  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  as  the  objective  means 
of  appropriating  grace,  in  connexion  with  worship.^ 

§  85.   Chiliasm.      * 

I,  Barnabas  :   Epist.  c.  15.     Papias,  in  Euseb.  III.  39.     Just.  Mart.  :  Dial. 

c.  Tryph.  Jud.  c.  80.  Iren.  :  Adv.  haer.  V.  24-36.  Tertull.  :  De  resurr. 
earn.  25 ;  Adv.  Marc.  III.  24,  IV.  29.  Caius,  in  Euseb.  III.  28.  Oris.  : 
Deprinc.  II.  11. 

II.  CoRRODi:  Kritische  Geschichte  des  Chiliasmus.    Ziir.  1794.     4  vols  (very 

unsatisfactory).  Munscher  :  •  Lehre  vom  tausendjahrigen  Reich  in  den 
3  ersten  Jahrh.  (in  Henke's  Magazine,  VI.  2,  p.  233  sqq.)  Semisch  : 
Chiliasmus  (in  Herzog's  Encyclop.  II.  p.  657-671).  D.  T.  Taylor  :  The 
Voice  of  the  Church  on  the  Coming  and  Kingdom  of  the  Redeemer ;  a 
History  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Reign  of  Christ  on  Earth.  Revised  by 
Hastings.     2nd  ed.     Peace  Dale,  R.  I.  1855. 

The  most  striking  point  in  the  eschatology  of  the  ancient 
church  is  the  widely  current  and  very  prominent  chihasm,  or 
the  doctrine  of  a  visible  reign  of  Christ  in  glory  on  earth  with 
the  risen  saints  for  a  thousand  years.  The  Jewish  hope  of  a 
Messianic  kingdom,  which  rested  on  carnal  misapprehension  of 
the  prophetic  figures,  was  transplanted  to  the  soil  of  Christianity, 
but  here  spiritualized,  and  fixed  on  the  second  coming  of  Christ 
instead  of  the  first ;  and  this  earthly  sabbath  of  the  church  was . 
no  longer  regarded -as  the  goal  of  her  course,  but  only  as  a  pre- 
lude to  the  endless  blessedness  of  heaven.^ 

The  Christian  chiliasm,  if  we  leave  out  of  sight  the  sensuous 
and  fahatical  extravagance,  into  which  it  has  frequently  run, 
both  in  ancient  and  in  modern  times,  is  based  on  the  unfulfilled 
promises  of  the  Lord,'*  and  particularly  on  the  apocalyptic  figure 
of  his  thousand  years'  reign  upon  earth  after  the  first  resurrec- 
tion f  in  connexion  with  the  numerous  passages  respecting  his 
glorious  return,  which  declare  it  to  be  near,  and  yet  uncertain 
and  unascertainable  as  to  its  day  and  hour,  that  believers  may 

>  See  §  105  sqq  ,  especially  §  111.  2  See  §§  102-104. 

3  Rev.  XX.  1  sqq.,  comp.  with  xxi.  1  sqq. 

''  Matt.  V.  4,  six.  29.     Luke  xiv.  12  sqq.  5  Rev.  xx.  1-6. 


300  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

be  always  ready  for  it.^  Tins  precious  hope,  through  the  whole 
age  of  persecutiou,  was  a  copious  fountain  of  encouragement 
and  comfort  under  the  pains  of  that  martyrdom  which  sowed 
in  blood  the  seed  of  a  glorious  harvest  for  the  church. 

Ilence  we  find  chiliasm  not  only  among  the  heretical  Jewish- 
Christians  and  the  Montanists,  with  whom  it  was  a  fundamental 
article  of  faith ;  but  also,  in  a  purified  form,  in  a  number  of 
orthodox  church  teachers.  Barnabas  considers  the  Mosaic  his- 
tory of  the  creation  a  type  of  six  ages  of  labor  for  the  world,  with 
a  thousand  years'  sabbath  of  blessed  rest ;  since  with  God  "  one 
(lay  is  as  a  thousand  years."^  Papias  of  Hierapolis  appealed,  in 
support  of  his  somewhat  quaint  notions  of  the  happiness  of  the 
millennial  reign,  to  apostolic  traditions ;  but  the  other  apostolic 
fathers  make  no  express  mention  of  the  subject.  Justin  Martyr 
regarded  the  expectation  of  the  earthly  perfection  of  the  church 
as  the  keystone  of  pure  doctrine,  but  knew  orthodox  Christians 
who  did  not  share  it ;  as,  indeed,  the  other  apologists  are  at  least 
silent  respecting  it.  Irenaeus,  on  the  strength  of  tradition  from 
St.  John  and  his  disciples,  taught  that  after  the  destruction  of 
the  Roman  empire,  and  the  brief  raging  of  antichrist,  Christ  will 
visibly  appear,  will  bind  Satan,  will  reign  at  the  rebuilt  city  of 
Jerusalem  with  the  little  band  of  faithful  confessors  and  the  host 
of  risen  martyrs  over  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  will  celebrate 
the  millennial  sabbath  of  preparation  for  the  eternal  glory  of 
heaven ;  then,  after  a  temporary  liberation  of  Satan,  follows  the 
final  victory,  the  general  resurrection,  the  judgment  of  the  world, 
and  the  consummation  in  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth. 
Tertullian,  in  behalf  of  his  chiliastic  ideas,  pointed  not  only  to  the 
Apocalypse,  but  also  to  the  predictions  of  the  Montanist  prophets. 

But  Millenarianism  became  frequently,  especially  with  the  Mon- 
tanists in  Asia  Minor,  so  colored  in  the  grossly  sensuous  style 
of  Judaism,  that  it  provoked  opposition,  first  in  the  Roman 
church  and  then  in  the  Alexandrian  school.  The  presbyter 
Caius,  towards  the  end  of  the  second  century,  in  controversy 

'  Comp.  Matt.  xxiv.  33,  3G.  Mark  xiii.  32.  Acts  i.  7.  1  Thess.  v.  1,  2.  2  Pet. 
iii.  10.     Rev.  i.  3  ;  iii.  3.  '  Ps.  xc.  4. 


§  85.     CHILIASM.  801 

witli  the  Montanist  Proclus,  referred  chiliasm,  and  perhaps 
even  the  Apocalypse  of  John,  to  the  hated  heretic  Cerinthus ; 
and  Origen  spiritualized  the  symbolical  language  of  the  Eevela- 
tion.  Yet  even  in  Egypt  chiliasm  had  many  friends.  In  the 
"West  ii  maintained  itself  still  longer,  and  found  advocates  in 
Commodian  towards  the  close  of  the  third  century,  and  Lactan- 
tius  and  Victorinus  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth. 

In  the  age  of  Constantine,  however,  a  radical  change  took 
place  in  tliis  belief.  After  Christianity,  contrary  to  all  expecta- 
tion, triumphed  in  the  Eoman  emjDire,  and  was  embraced  by  the 
Caesars  themselves,  the  millennial  reign,  instead  of  being  anxi- 
ously waited  and  prayed  for,  began  to  be  dated  either  fi'om  the 
first  appearance  of  Christ,  or  from  the  conversion  of  Constantine, 
and  to  be  regarded  as  realized  in  the  glory  of  the  dominant  impe- 
rial state-church.  From  that  time  chiliasm,  not  indeed  in  its 
essence,  as  the  hope  of  a  golden  age  of  the  church  on  earth,  and 
of  a  great  sabbath  of  the  world  after  the  hard  labor  of  the  world's 
history,  but  in  its  distorted  Ebionistic  form,  took  its  place  among 
the  heresies,  and  was  rejected  subsequently  even  by  the  Protes- 
tant reformers  as  a  Jewish  dream. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE   CHKISTIAN   LIFE   IN   CONTRAST  "WITH    PAGAN  CORRUPTION. 


I.  The  -works  of  the  Apostolic  FAxnERS.     The  Apologies  of  Justin.     The 

practical  treatises  of  Tertullian.  The  Epistles  of  Cvprian.  The  De- 
crees of  Councils.  The  Apostolical  Constitutions  and  Canons.  The 
Acts  of  the  Martyrs. 

II.  G.  Arnold  :  Erste  Liebe,  d.  i.  Wahre  Abbildung  dor  ersten  Christen. 

Frankf.  1G96,  and  often  since.  Neander:  Denkwiirdigkeiten  aus  der 
Geschichte  des  christlichen  Lebens  (first  1823),  vol.  i.  Ilamb.,  1845,  3d 
ed.  The  same  in  EngUsh  by  Ryland :  Neanders  Memorials  of  Christian 
Life,  in  Bohn's  Library,  1853.  Coleman  :  Ancient  Christianity  exem- 
plified in  the  private,  domestic,  social,  and  civil  Life  of  the  Primitive 
Christians,  &c.  Phil.  1853.  C.  Schmidt  :  Essai  historique  sur  la  sod4t4 
dans  le  monde  Remain,  et  sur  la  transformation  par  le  Christianisme. 
Par.  1853.  The  same  transl.  into  German  by  A.  V.  Richard.  Leipz. 
1857.  Chastel  :  £tudes  historiques  sur  I'influence  de  la  charite  durant 
les  premiers  siecles  chret.  Par.  1853.  The  same  transl.  into  English 
("  The  Charity  of  the  Primitive  Churches"),  by  G.  A.  Matile.  Phila. 
1857.  Villemain  :  Nouveaux  essais  sur  I'infl.  du  Christianisme  dans  le 
monde  Grec  et  Latin.  Par.  1853.  Comp.  also  the  works  cited  at  §  58, 
above,  on  Christian  martyrdom. 

§  86.  Moral  Corruption  in  the  Roman  Empire. 

Christianity  is  not  only  the  revelation  of  truth,  but  also  the 
fountain  of  holiness.  It  attests  its  divine  origin  as  much  by  its 
moral  workings  as  by  its  pure  doctrines.  By  its  own  inherent 
energy,  without  noise  and  commotion,  without  the  favor  of  cir- 
cumstances, nay,  in  spite  of  all  possible  obstacles,  it  has  gradu- 
ally wrought  the  greatest  and  most  beneficent  moral  reformation, 
wc  should  rather  say,  regeneration,  of  society,  which  history  has 
ever  seen.  To  appreciate  this  work,  we  must  first  review  the 
moral  condition  of  heathenism  in  its  mightiest  embodiment  in 
history. 


§   86.      MORAL   CORRUPTION   IN   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE,     803 

When  Christianity  took  firm  foothold  on  earth,  the  pagan 
civilization  and  the  Roman  empire  had  reached  their  zenith. 
The  reign  of  Augustus  was  the  golden  age  of  Roman  literature ; 
his  successors  added  Britain  and  Dacia  to  the  conquests  of  the 
Republic ;  internal  organization  was  perfected  bj  Trajan  and 
the  Antonines.  The  fairest  countries  of  Europe,  and  a  consider- 
able part  of  Asia  and  Africa,  then  stood  under  one  imperial 
government  with  republican  forms,  and  enjoyed  a  well  ordered 
jurisdiction.  Military  roads,  canals,  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea 
facilitated  commerce  and  travel ;  agriculture  was  improved,  and 
all  branches  of  industry  flourished.  Temj)les,  theatres,  aque- 
ducts, public  baths,  and  magnificent  buildings  of  every  kind 
adorned  the  great  cities ;  institutions  of  learning  disseminated 
culture  ;  two  languages  with  a  classic  literature  were  current  in 
the  empire,  the  Greek  in  the  East,  the  Latin  in  the  "West ;  the 
book  trade,  with  the  manufacture  of  paper,  was  a  craft  of  no 
small  importance,  and  a  library  belonged  to  every  respectable 
house.  The  excavations  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  reveal  a 
high  degree  of  convenience  and  taste  in  domestic  life ;  and  no 
one  can  look  at  the  sublime  and  eloquent  ruins  of  Rome,  above 
all  the  Colosseum  built  by  Vespasian  for  more  than  eighty  thou- 
sand spectators,  without  amazement  at  the  energy  and  majesty 
of  the  old  Roman  empire. 

But  the  age  of  the  full  bloom  of  the  Graeco-Roman  culture 
and  empire  was  also  the  first  period  of  its  decline.  This  impos- 
ing show  concealed  incurable  moral  putridity  and  indescribable 
wretchedness.  The  most  colossal  piles  owed  their  erection  to 
the  bloody  sweat  of  innumerable  slaves,  who  were  treated  no 
better  than  as  many  beasts  of  burden  ;  on  the  above-named 
amphitheatre  alone  toiled  twelve  thousand  Jewish  prisoners  of 
war.  Even  in  the  later  times  of  the  republic,  and  still  more 
under  the  emperors,  the  influx  of  wealth  from  conquered  nations 
diffused  the  most  extravagant  luxury,  which  collected  for  a  sin- 
gle meal  peacocks  from  Samos,  pike  from  Pessinus,  oysters  from 
Tarentum,  dates  from  Egypt,  nuts  from  Spain,  in  short  the 
rarest  dishes  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  resorted  to  emetics 


804  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

to  stimulate  appetite  and  to  lighten  the  stomach.  A  special  class 
of  servants,  the  cosmetes,  had  charge  of  the  dress,  the  smooth- 
ing of  the  wrinkles,  the  setting  of  the  false  teeth,  the  painting 
of  the  eye-brows,  of  wealthy  patricians.  Hand  in  hand  with  this 
luxur}^  came  the  vices  of  natural  and  even  unnatural  sensuality, 
which  decency  refuses  to  name.  Comfortless  poverty  stood  in 
crying  contrast  witli  immeasurable  wealth ;  exhausted  provinces, 
with  revelling  cities.  Enormous  taxes  burdened  the  people,  and 
misery  was  terribly  increased,  especially  in  the  second  and  third 
centuries,  by  all  sorts  of  public  misfortunes.  The  higher  or 
ruling  families  were  enervated,  and  were  not  strengthened  or 
replenished  by  the  lower.  The  free  citizens  lost  all  physical 
and  moral  vigor,  and  sank  to  an  inert  mass.  The  third  class 
was  the  huge  body  of  slaves,  who  performed  almost  all  kinds 
of  mechanical  labor,  even  the  tilling  of  the  soil,  and  in  times  of 
danger  were  ready  to  join  the  enemies  of  the  empire.  A  proper 
middle  class,  the  only  firm  basis  of  a  healthy  community,  there 
was  not.  The  army,  composed  largely  of  the  rudest  citizens  and 
of  barbarians,  was  the  heart  of  the  nation,  and  gradually  stamped 
the  government  with  the  character  of  an  arbitrary  military  des- 
potism. The  virtues  of  patriotism,  and  of  good  faith  in  public 
intercourse,  were  extinct.  The  basest  avarice,  suspicion  and 
envy,  usariousness  and  bribery,  insolence  and  servility,  eveiy- 
where  prevailed. 

The  work  of  demoralizing  the  people  was  systematically  orga- 
nized and  sanctioned  from  the  highest  places  downwards.  There 
were,  it  is  true,  some  worthy  emperors  of  old  Roman  energy  and 
justice ;  among  whom  Titus,  Trajan,  Adrian,  Antoninus  Pius, 
and  Marcus  Aurelius  stand  foremost.  But  the  best  they  could 
do  was  to  check  the  process  of  internal  putrefaction  and  to  con- 
ceal the  sores  for  a  little  while ;  they  could  not  heal  them.  Most 
of  the  emperors  were  coarse  military  despots,  and  some  of  them 
monsters  of  immorality.  There  are  few  periods  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  in  which  so  many  and  so  hideous  vices  have  dis- 
graced the  throne,  as  in  the  period  from  Tiberius  to  Constan- 
tine.  *  We  are  familiar  with  the  dark  misanthropy,  the  tiger-like 


§   86.      MORAL   COREUPTIOX   IN   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE.       305 

cruelty,  and  the  wild  voluptuousness  of  Tiberius ;  the  madness 
of  Caligula,  "wlio  had  men  sawed  in  pieces  for  his  amusement, 
raised  his  horse  to  the  dignity  of  consul  and  priest,  and  crawled 
under  the  bed  in  a  storm  ;  the  bottomless  vileness  and  childish 
vanity  of  the  arch-tyrant  Nero,  who  practised  unnatural  vices 
with  the  most  shocking  shamelessness ;  who  in  sheer  wanton- 
ness set  fire  to  Rome,  and  then  burnt  the  innocent  Christians  for 
it  as  torches  in  his  gardens ;  who  either  poisoned  with  his  own 
hand,  or  murdered  by  the  hands  of  accomplices,  his  precejjtors 
Burrhus  and  Seneca,  his  half-brother  and  brother-in-law  Britan- 
nicus,  his  mother  Agrippina,  his  wife  Octavia,  his  mistress  Pop- 
paea ;  and  finally,  supported  by  a  servant,  stabbed  himself,  ex- 
claiming  :  "  What  an  artist  dies  in  me  !" — the  swinish  gluttony 
of  Vitellius ;  the  dark  suspicion,  the  refined  wickedness,  and  the 
blasphemous  pride  of  Domitian,  who,  more  a  cat  than  a  tiger,, 
amused  himself  most  with  the  torments  of  the  dying  and  with, 
catching  flies ;  the  bloodthirstiness  and  shameless  revelry  of 
Commodus  with  his  hundreds  of  concubines;  the  infernal  vil- 
lany  of  the  youth  Heliogabalus,  whose  greatest  delight  was,  to 
raise  the  lowest  men  to  the  highest  dignities  of  the  state,  to  dress 
himself  in  women's  clothes,  to  be  called  empress,  to  marry  a  dis- 
solute boy  like  himself,  in  short  to  invert  all  the  laws  of  nature 
and  of  decency,  until  at  last  he  was  butchered  with  his  mother 
by  the  soldiers,  and  thrown  into  the  muddy  Tiber.  And  to  fill 
the  measure  of  impiety  and  wickedness,  such  imperial  monsters,, 
after  Augustus,  from  whose  ashes  an  eagle  rose,  and  whose  soul,, 
as  a  senator  testified  on  oath,  had  visibly  ascended  to  heaven,, 
were  received  after  their  death,  by  a  formal  decree  of  the  senate,, 
into  the  number  of  the  gods,  and  their  abandoned  memory  was 
celebrated  by  festivals,  temples,  and  colleges  of  priests !  Domi- 
tian, even  in  his  lifetime,  caused  himself  to  be  called  "  Bominus 
et  Deus  noster,"  and  whole  herds  of  animals  to  be  sacrificed  to 
his  gold  and  silver  statues.  Surely  this  was  not  only  the  height 
of  adulation,  but  a  public  and  official  mockery  of  all  morality 
and  religion.  » 

From  the  higher  regions  the  corruption  descended  into  the 

20 


306  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

masses  of  the  people,  who  by  this  time  had  no  sense  for  any- 
thing but  bread  and  public  sports,  "  panern  et  circenses,"  and,  in 
the  enjoyment  of  these,  looked  with  morbid  curiosity  and  interest 
upon  the  most  flagrant  vices  of  their  masters.  The  earnest 
Stoic,  Seneca,  hesitates  not  to  say  of  this  imperial  age  :  "  All  is 
full  of  outrage  and  vice ;  a  monstrous  prize  contest  of  wicked- 
ness is  being  enacted ;  the  desire  to  sin  increases,  and  shame 
decreases,  every  day.  .  .  ,  Vice  is  no  longer  even  practised 
secretly,  but  in  open  view.  Vileness  gains  on  all  the  streets  and 
in  every  breast,  so  that  innocence  has  become  not  only  rare,  but 
altogether  extinct." 

No  wonder  Tacitus,  with  the  many  cruelties  before  him,  which 
he  recounts  with  old  Roman  earnestness,  in  his  immortal  history, 
could  nowhere,  save  perhaps  among  the  barbarian  Germans, 
discover  a  star  of  hope,  and  foreboded  the  fearful  vengeance  of 
the  gods,  and  even  the  speedy  destruction  of  the  empire.  And 
certainly  nothing  could  save  the  empire  from  this  final  doom, 
whose  approach  was  announced  with  ever  growing  distinctness 
by  wars,  insurrections,  inundations,  earthquakes,  pestilence, 
famine,  irruption  of  barbarians,  and  prophetic  calamities  of  every 
kind. 

The  ancient  world  of  classic  heathenism,  having  arrived  at 
the  height  of  its  glory,  and  at  the  threshold  of  its  decay,  had 
exhausted  all  the  resources  of  human  nature  left  to  itself,  and 
possessed  no  recuperative  force,  no  regenerative  principle.  A 
regeneration  of  society  could  only  proceed  from  religion.  But 
the  heathen  religion  had  no  restraint  for  vice,  no  comfort  for  the 
poor  and  oppressed ;  it  was  itself  the  muddy  fountain  of  im- 
morality. God,  therefore,  who  in  his  infinite  mercy  desired  not 
the  destruction  but  the  salvation  of  the  race,  opened  in  midst  of 
this  hopeless  decay  of  a  false  religion  a  pure  fountain  of  holiness^ 
love,  and  peace,  in  the  only  true  and  universal  religion  of  his 
Son  Jesus  Christ. 

§  87.   TJie  Ckristimi  Morality  in  Oeneral. 
In  this  cheerless  waste  of  pagan  corruption  the  small   and 


§   87.      THE   CHEISTIAN   MORALITY  IN   GENERAL.  307 

despised  band  of  Christians  was  an  oasis  fresh,  with  life  and  hope. 
It  was  really  the  salt  of  the  earth,  and  the  light  of  the  world. 
Poor  in  this  world's  goods,  it  bore  in  its  bosom  the  imperishable 
treasures  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Meek  and  lowly  in  heart, 
it  was  destined,  according  to  the  promise  of  the  Lord,  without  a 
stroke  of  the  sword,  to  inherit  the  earth.  In  submission  it 
conquered ;  by  suffering  and  death  it  won  the  crown  of  life. 

To  do  full  justice  to  this  great  subject  we  should  have  to  enter 
into  an  analysis  of  the  principles  of  Christian  ethics  in  its 
immeasurable  superiority  over  the  heathen  standard  of  morality 
even  under  its  most  favorable  forms.  But  the  historian  is 
limited  to  the  facts  placed  before  him  in  the  particular  age  of 
which  he  treats.  The  Christian  life,  moreover,  reveals  itself  in 
its  full  power  and  extent  only  in  the  long  process  of  successive 
ages  and  centuries.  Yet  it  is  present  and  makes  itself  felt  at 
every  stage,  both  in  the  individual  and  social  sphere,  reflecting 
in  their  concrete  phenomena  and  facts  more  or  less  purely  the 
general  and  eternal  principles  on  which  it  is  founded. 

Christianity,  indeed,  does  not  come  "with  outward  observa- 
tion." Its  deepest  workings  are  silent  and  inward.  The  opera- 
tions of  divine  grace  in  the  regeneration,  conversion,  and  sancti- 
fication  of  individuals,  commonly  shun  the  notice  of  the  historian, 
and  await  their  revelation  on  the  great  day  of  judgment,  when 
all  that  is  secret  shall  be  made  known.  Who,  for  example,  can 
measure  the  depth  and  breadth  of  all  those  pure  and  blessed 
experiences  of  forgiveness,  peace,  gratitude,  trust  in  God,  love 
for  God  and  love  for  man,  humility  and  meekness,  patience  and 
resignation,  which  have  bloomed  as  vernal  flowers  on  the  soil  of 
the  renewed  heart  since  the  first  Christian  Pentecost?  Who 
can  tell  the  number  and  the  fervor  of  the  Christian  prayers  and 
intercessions,  which  have  gone  up  unuttered  from  lonely 
chambers,  caves,  deserts,  and  martyrs'  graves,  in  the  silent  night 
and  the  open  day,  for  friends  and  enemies,  for  all  classes  of  man- 
kind, even  for  blood-thirsty  persecutors,  to  the  throne  of  the 
exalted  Saviour  ?  But  where  this  Christian  life  has  taken  root 
in  the  depths  of  the  soul  it  must  show  itself  in  the  outward 


808  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

conduct,  and  exert  a  sanctifyang  influence  on  every  calling  and 
sphere  of  action.  The  Christian  morality  surpassed  all  that  the 
noblest  philosophers  of  heathendom  had  ever  taught  or  labored 
for  as  the  highest  aim  of  man.  The  masterly  picture  of  it  in  the 
anonymous  Epistle  to  Diognetus^  is  no  mere  fancy  sketch,  but  a 
faithful  copy  from  real  life.  When  the  apologists  of  the  second 
and  third  centuries  indignantly  rej)el  the  calumnies  of  the 
enemies  of  the  Christians,  and  with  a  confidence  fearless  of  con- 
tradiction point  to  the  unfeigned  piety,  the  earnest  reverence  for 
God,  the  warm  brotherly  love,  the  self-denying  love  for  enemies, 
the  purity  and  chastity,  the  faithfulness  and  integrity,  the 
patience  and  gentleness,  of  the  confessors  of  the  name  of  Jesus, 
we  everywhere  feel  that  they  speak  from  daily  experience  and 
personal  observation.  "  "We,  who  once  served  lust,"  could 
Justin  Martyr  say  without  exaggeration,  "  now  find  our  delight 
only  in  pure  morals ;  we,  who  once  followed  sorcery,  have  now 
consecrated  ourselves  to  the  eternal  good  God ;  we,  who  once 
loved  gain  above  all,  now  give  up  what  we  have  for  the  com- 
mon use,  and  share  with  every  needy  one ;  we,  who  once  hated 
and  killed  each  other ;  we,  who  would  have  no  common  hearth 
with  foreigners  for  difference  of  customs,  now,  since  the  appear- 
ance of  Christ,  live  with  them,  pray  for  our  enemies,  seek  to  con- 
vince those,  who  hate  us  without  cause,  that  they  may  regulate 
their  life  according  to  the  glorious  teachings  of  Christ,  and 
receive  from  the  all-ruling  God  the  same  blessings  with  our- 
selves." Tertullian  could  boast,  that  he  knew  no  Christians, 
who  suffered  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner,  except  for  their 
religion.  Minutius  Felix  tells  the  heathens:  "You  prohibit 
adultery  by  law,  and  practise  it  in  secret ;  you  punish  wicked- 
ness only  in  the  overt  act ;  we  look  upon  it  as  criminal  even  in 
thought.  You  dread  the  inspection  of  others ;  we  stand  in  awe 
of  nothing  but  our  own  consciences  as  becomes  Christians.  And 
finally  your  prisons  are  overflowing  with  ci'iminals ;  but  they 
are   all   heathens,    not   a   Christian  is  there,  unless  he   be   an 

'  Soc  §  4G.  p.  146  sq. 


§   87.      THE   CHRISTIAN   MORALITY   IN   GENERAL.  309 

apostate."  Even  tlie  lieathen  Plinj  wrote  to  Trajan,  that  the 
Christians,  whom  he  questioned  by  the  rack  respecting  the 
character  of  their  rehgion,  bound  themselves  by  an  oath  never 
to  commit  theft,  robbery,  nor  adultery,  nor  to  break  their  word, 
— and  this,  too,  at  a  time,  when  the  sins  of  fraud,  uncleanness, 
and  lasciviousness  of  every  form,  abounded  all  around.  Another 
heathen,  Lucian,  bears  testimony  to  their  incredible  benevolence 
and  charity  for  their  brethren  in  distress,  while  he  attempts  to 
ridicule  this  virtue  as  foolish  weakness  in  an  age  of  unbounded 
selfishness. 

The  humble  and  painful  condition  of  the  church  under  civil 
oppression  made  hypocrisy  in  the  confession  of  Christianity 
much  more  rare  at  that  day  than  in  more  favorable  times,  and 
produced  the  fairest  bloom  of  the  Christian  graces,  of  fervor  in 
prayer,  of  readiness  for  self-sacrifice,  of  brotherly  love,  of  martyr- 
heroism,  and  a  patience,  which  in  the  deepest  suffering  preserved 
the  highest  superiority  to  the  world. 

Most  appropriately  did  the  Christians,  in  these  stormy  times 
of  persecution,  delight  to  regard  themselves  as  soldiers  of 
Christ,  enlisted  under  the  victorious  standard  of  the  cross  against 
sin,  the  world,  and  Satan.  The  baptismal  vow  was  their  oath 
of  per^^etual  allegiance  ;  ^  the  Apostles'  creed,  their  parole ;  ^  the 
sign  of  the  Cross  upon  the  forehead,  their  mark  of  service ; ' 
temperance,  courage,  and  faithfulness  unto  death,  their  cardinal 
virtues  ;  the  blessedness  of  heaven,  their  promised  reward.  "  No 
soldier,"  exclaims  Tertullian  to  the  confessors,  "  goes  with  his 
sports  or  from  his  bed-chamber  to  the  battle ;  but  from  the 
camp,  where  he  hardens  and  accustoms  himself  to  every  incon- 
venience. Even  in  peace  warriors  learn  to  bear  labor  and 
fatigue,  going  through  all  military  exercises,  that  neither  soul 
nor  body  may  flag  ...  Ye  wage  a  good  warfare,  in  which  the 
living  God  is  the  judge  of  the  combat,  the  Holy  Ghost  the  leader, 
eternal  glory  the  prize."  To  this  may  be  added  the  eloquent 
passage  of  Minutius  Felix :    "  How  fair  a  spectacle  in  the  sight 

'  Sacramentum  militiae  Christianae.  *  Symbolum,  or,  tessera  militaris. 

'  Character  militaris,  stigma  militare. 


310  SECOND    PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

of  God  is  a  Christian  entering  tlie  lists  with  affliction,  and  with 
noble  firmness  combating  menaces  and  tortures,  or  with  a  dis- 
dainful smile  marching  to  death,  through  the  clamors  of  the 
people,  and  the  insults  of  the  executioners;  when  he  bravely 
maintains  his  liberty  against  kings  and  princes,  and  submits  to 
God,  whose  servant  he  is ;  when,  like  a  conqueror,  he  triumphs 
over  the  judge  that  condemns  him !  For  he  certainly  is  victori- 
ous, who  obtains  what  he  fights  for.  He  fights  under  the  eye  of 
God,  and  is  crowned  with  length  of  days.  You  have  exalted 
some  of  your  stoical  sufferers  to  the  skies ;  such  as  Scaevola, 
who  having  missed  his  aim  in  an  attempt  to  kill  the  king, 
voluntarily  burned  the  mistaking  hand.  Yet  how  many  among 
us  have  suffered  not  only  the  hand,  but  the  whole  body  to  be 
consumed  without  a  complaint,  when  their  deliverance  was  in 
their  own  power !  But  why  should  I  compare  our  elders  with 
your  Mutius,  or  Aquilius,  or  Regulus,  when  our  very  children, 
our  sons  and  daughters,  inspired  with  patience,  despise  your 
racks  and  wild  beasts,  and  all  other  instruments  of  cruelty  ? 
Surely  nothing  but  the  strongest  reasons  could  persuade  people 
to  suffer  at  this  rate ;  and  nothing  else  but  Almighty  power 
could  support  them  under  their  sufferings." 

Yet,  on  tke  other  hand,  the  Christian  life  of  the  period  before 
Constmtine  has  certainly  been  often  unwarrantably  idealized. 
In  a  human  nature  essentially  the  same,  we  could  but  expect  all 
sorts  of  the  same  faults  and  excrescences,  which  we  found  even 
in  the  apostolic  churches.  The  Epistles  of  Cyprian  afford  in- 
contestable evidence,  that,  especially  in  the  intervals  of  repose, 
an  abatement  of  zeal  soon  showed  itself,  and,  on  the  reopening 
of  persecution,  the  Christian  name  was  dishonored  by  whole 
hosts  of  apostates.  And  not  seldom  did  the  most  prominent 
virtues,  courage  in  death,  and  strictness  of  morals,  degenerate  to 
morbid  fanaticisim  and  unnatural  rigor. 

§  88.      Opposition  to  Pagan  Amusements  and  Callings. 

Christianity  is  anytliing  but  sanctimonious  gloominess  and 
misanthropic  austerity.     It  is  the  foimtain  of  all  true  joy,  and  of 


§  88.    OPPOSITION  TO  PAGAN  AMUSEMENTS  AND  CALLINGS.  311 

that  peace  whicli  "passeth  all  understanding."  But  tliis  joj 
wells  up  from  the  consciousness  of  pardon  and  of  fellowship  with 
God,  is  inseparable  from  holy  earnestness,  and  has  no  concord 
with  worldly  frivolity  and  sensual  amusement,  which  carry  the 
sting  of  a  bad  conscience  and  beget  only  disgust  and  bitter 
remorse.  "  What  is  more  blessed,"  asks  Tertullian,  "  than  recon- 
ciliation with  God  our  Father  and  Lord  ;  than  the  revelation  of 
the  truth,  the  knowledge  of  error;  than  the  forgiveness  of  so 
great  past  misdeeds  ?  Is  there  a  greater  joy  than  the  disgust  with 
earthly  pleasure,  than  contempt  for  the  whole  world,  than  true 
freedom,  than  an  unstained  conscience,  than  contentment  in  life 
and  fearlessness  in  death  ?" 

Against  the  intoxicating  and  immoral  amusements  of  the  hea- 
then, therefore,  the  Christian  life  of  the  early  church  took  the  cha- 
racter of  an  inexorable  Puritanic  rigor.  Members  of  the  church 
were  forbidden,  on  pain  of  excommunication,  to  attend  the  popular 
gladiatorial  shows  and  fights  of  beasts,  where  murder  was  prac- 
tised as  an  art  to  please  the  eyes  and  gratify  a  cruel  curiosity. 
Tatianus  calls  them,  without  exaggeration,  terrible  feasts,  in 
which  the  soul  feeds  on  human  flesh  and  blood.^  The  other 
apologists  sf)eak  of  them  with  equal  abhorrence,  and  cannot  con- 
ceive how  any  person  of  culture  and  humane  feelings  could  fre- 
quent and  admire  them.  What  a  contrast  this  to  the  opinion  of 
even  such  a  noble  heathen  as  Cicero,  who,  far  from  condemning 
the  bloody  conflicts  of  the  circus,  commended  them  as  excellent 
schools  of  courage  and  contempt  of  death.^  To  what  a  height 
this  cruel  passion  had  risen  among  the  Eomans,  we  may  judge 
from  the  fact,  that  on  the  single  day  of  the  inauguration  of  the 
Flavian  amphitheatre  five,  or  according  to  other  accounts,  even 
nine  thousand  wild  beasts  were  slain  ;  and  that  the  emperor  Com- 
modus  himself  appeared  before  the  applauding  public  seven  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five  times  in  the  character  of  Hercules,  with  club 
and  lion's  skin,  and  from  a  secure  position  killed  innumerable 

>  Orat.  c.  Grace,  c.  23. 

2  Tusc.  Quaest.  II.  17.     It  is  only  just,  however,  to  rema-k  that  Ovid  and  Mani- 
lius  were  disposed  to  regard  the  circus  as  a  school  of  barbarism. 


312  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

beasts  and  men.  Even  a  Constantinc,  as  late  as  313,  committed 
a  great  multitude  of  defeated  barbarians  to  the  wild  beasts  of  the 
circus  for  the  amusement  of  the  people,  and  was  highly  applauded 
for  this  generous  act  by  an  unknown  heathen  orator.  The  Chris- 
tians were  the  more  averse  to  these  barbarous  and  revolting 
sports,  since  not  only  criminals,  but  often  their  own  brethren  and 
other  innocent  persons,  slaves  and  captives  of  war,  were  there 
thrown  to  lions  and  tigers. 

But  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the  church  went  further,  and 
rejected  all  kinds  of  public  spectacles,  tragedies,  comedies,  dances, 
mimic  plaj's,  and  races  ;  the  more  decidedly  because  these  amuse- 
ments were  at  that  time  so  closely  connected  with  the  idolatries 
and  immoralities  of  the  heathens,  that  such  a  thing  as  reclaiming 
and  elevating  them  was  out  of  the  question.  After  the  days  of 
Augustus  the  Koman  theatre  became  more  and  more  a  nursery 
of  vice,  and  deserved  to  be  abhorred  by  all  men  of  decent  feeling 
and  refined  taste.  Here,  too,  the  church  defended  the  interests 
of  virtue  and  true  culture.  The  theatrical  shows  of  those  days 
were  justly  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  "pomp  of  the  devil," 
which  the  Christian  in  baptism  renounced.  It  sometimes  hap- 
pened that  converts,  who  were  overpowered  by  their  old  habits 
and  visited  the  theatre,  either  relapsed  into  heathenism,  or  fell 
for  a  long  time  into  a  demoniacal  state  and  deep  dejection  of 
spirit.  Tertullian,  even  before  he  became  a  Montanist,  wrote  a 
special  treatise  De  spectaculis,  in  which  he  endeavors  to  set  forth 
the  incompatibility  of  Christian  sentiment  with  the  frequenting 
of  the  theatre  and  circus.  Such  exhibitions,  says  he,  excite  all 
sorts  of  wild  and  impure  passions,  anger,  fury,  and  lust ;  while 
the  spirit  of  Christianity  is  a  spirit  of  meekness,  peace,  and 
purity.  "What  a  man  should  not  say,  thinks  Tertullian,  he  should 
not  hear.  He  flatly  rejects  the  groujids  on  which  loose  Chris- 
tians would  plead  for  those  fascinating  amusements ; — their 
appeals  to  the  silence  of  the  Scriptures,  or  even  to  the  dancing  of 
David  before  the  ark,  and  to  Paul's  comparison  of  the  Christian 
life  with  the  Grecian  games.  ITc  inclined  strongly  to  the  extreme 
view,  that  all  art  is  a  species  of  fiction  and  falseliood,  and  incon- 


§  88.    OPPOSITION  TO  PAGAN  AMUSEMENTS  AND  CALLINGS.  313 

sistent  with  Cliristian  trutlifulness.  But  to  all  the  worldly  plea- 
sures of  those  times  the  Lord's  words  could  be  truly  applied : 
"  It  is  better  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  with  one  eye,  than 
having  two  eyes  to  be  cast  into  hell-fire."  TertuUian  likewise, 
in  two  other  treatises,  De  habitu  muliebri,  and  De  cultu  femi- 
narum,  specially  warned  the  Christian  women  against  all  display 
of  dress,  in  which  the  heathen  women  shone  in  temples,  theatres, 
and  public  places.  Visit  not  such  places,  says  he  to  them,  and 
appear  in  public  only  for  earnest  reasons.  The  handmaids  of 
God  must  distinguish  themselves  even  outwardly  from  the  hand- 
maids of  Satan,  and  set  the  latter  a  good  example  of  simplicity, 
decorum,  and  chastity. 

As  to  the  various  callings  of  life,  Christianity  gives  the  instruc- 
tion :  "  Let  every  man  abide  in  the  same  calling  wherein  he  was 
called."^  It  forbids  no  respectable  j)ursuit,  and  only  requires 
that  it  be  followed  in  a  new  spirit  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
profit  of  men.  This  is  one  proof  of  its  universal  application — its 
power  to  enter  into  all  the  relations  of  human  life  and  into  all 
branches  of  society.  This  is  beautifully  presented  by  the  author 
of  the  Epistle  to  Diognetus  in  the  passage  already  quoted.^  Ter- 
tuUian also  protests  to  the  heathens :  "  We  are  no  Brahmins  nor 
Indian  gymnosophists,  no  hermits,  no  exiles  from  life.^  We  are 
mindful  of  the  thanks  we  owe  to  God,  our  Lord  and  Creator  • 
we  despise  not  the  enjoyment  of  his  works  ;  we  only  temper  it, 
that  we  may  avoid  excess  and  abuse.  We  dwell,  therefore,  with 
you  in  this  world,  not  without  markets  and  fairs,  not  without 
baths,  inns,  shops,  and  every  kind  of  intercourse.  We  carry  on 
commerce  and  war,*  agriculture  and  trade  with  you.  We  take 
part  in  your  pursuits  and  give  our  labor  for  your  use."^ 

But  there  were  at  that  time  some  callings  which  either  minis- 
tered solely  to  sinful  gratification,  like  that  of  the  stage-player, 
or  were  intimately  connected  with  the  prevailing  idolatry,  like 
the  manufacture,  decoration,  and  sale  of  mythological  images  and 

'  1  Cor.  vii.  20.  2  g  46,  p.  146.  3  Exules  vitae. 

*  "Militamus,''  which  proves  that  many  Christians  served  in  the  army. 
5  Apol.  c.  42. 


314:  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

symbols,  the  divination  of  astrologers,  and  all  species  of  magic. 
These  callings  were  strictly  forbidden  in  the  church,  and  must 
be  renounced  by  the -candidate  for  baptism.  Other  occupations, 
which  were  necessary  indeed,  but  commonly  perverted  by  the 
heathens  to  fraudulent  purposes, — inn-keeping,  for  example,^ — 
were  elevated  by  the  Christian  spirit ;  as  in  the  case  of  one  Theo- 
dotus  at  Ancyra,  who  made  his  house  a  refuge  for  the  Christians 
and  a  place  of  prayer  in  the  Diocletian  persecution,  in  which  he 
himself  suffered  martyrdom. 

In  regard  to  military  and  civil  offices  under  the  heathen 
government,  opinion  was  divided.  Some,  on  the  authority  of 
such  passages  as  Matt.  v.  39  and  xxvi.  52,  condemned  all  war  as 
unchristian  and  immoral.  Others  appealed  to  the  centurion  of 
Capernaum  and  Cornelius  of  Caesarea,  and  held  the  military  life 
consistent  with  a  Christian  profession.  The  tradition  of  the  legio 
fulminatrix  indicates  that  there  were  Christian  soldiers  in  the 
Eoman  armies,  and  at  the  time  of  Diocletian  the  number  of 
Christians  at  the  court  and  in  civil  office  was  very  considerable. 
But  in  general  the  Christians  of  those  days,  with  their  lively 
sense  of  foreignness  to  this  world,  and  their  longing  for  the  hea- 
venly home,  were  averse  to  high  office  in  a  heathen  state ;  and 
Tertullian  expressly  says,  that  nothing  was  more  alien  to  them 
than  politics.  Their  conscience  required  them  to  abstain  scru- 
j)ulously  from  all  idolatrous  usages,  sacrifices,  libations,  and  flat- 
teries connected  with  such  station;  and  this  requisition  must 
come  into  frequent  collision  with  their  duties  to  the  state,  so  long 
as  the  state  remained  heathen.  They  honored  the  emperor  as 
appointed  to  earthly  government  by  God,  and  as  standing  nearest 
of  all  men  to  him  in  power ;  and  they  paid  their  taxes,  as  Justin 
Martyr  expressly  states,  with  exemplary  faithfulness.  But  their 
obedience  ceased  whenever  the  emperor,  as  he  frequently  did, 
demanded  of  them  idolatrous  acts.  Tertullian  thought  that  the 
empire  would  last  till  the  end  of  the  world,  and  would  be  irre- 
concilable with  tlic  Christian  profession.     Against  the  idolatrous 

•  ITonce  canponari,  from  caupo. 


§   89.      THE   CHURCH   AND   SLAVERY.  315 

worsliip  of  tlie  emperor  he  protests  with  Christian  boldness: 
"Augustus,  the  founder  of  the  empire,  would  never  be  called 
Lord ;  for  this  is  a  surname  of  God.  Yet  I  will  freely  call  the 
emperor  so,  only  not  in  the  place  of  God.  Otherwise  I  am  free 
from  him ;  for  I  have  only  one  Lord,  the  almighty  and  eternal 
God,  who  also  is  the  emperor's  Lord.  .  .  .  Far  be  it  from  me  to 
call  the  emperor  God ;  which  is  not  only  the  most  shameful,  but 
the  most  pernicious  flattery." 

The  comparative  indifference  then,  and  partial  aversion  of  the 
primitive  Christians  to  the  affairs  of  the  state,  to  civil  legisla- 
tion and  administration,  which  exposed  them  to  the  frequent 
reproach  and  contempt  of  the  heathens,  was  not  so  much  the 
result  of  their  principles  as  of  their  situation,  and  must  not  be 
attributed  to  an  "  indolent  or  criminal  disregard  for  the  public 
welfare  "  (as  Gibbon  intimates),  but  to  their  just  abhorrence  of 
the  innumerable  idolatrous  rites  connected  with  the  public  and 
private  life  of  the  heathens.  But  while  they  refused  to  incur  the 
guilt  of  idolatry,  they  fervently  and  regularly  prayed  for  the 
emperor  and  the  state,  their  enemies  and  persecutors ;  they  were 
the  most  peaceful  subjects,  and  during  this  long  period  of  almost 
constant  provocation,  abuse,  and  persecutions,  they  never  took 
part  in  those  frequent  insurrections  and  rebellions  which  weak- 
ened and  undermined  the  empire.  They  renovated  society  from 
within,  by  revealing  in  their  lives  as  well  as  in  their  doctrine  a 
higher  order  of  private  and  public  virtue,  and  thus  proved  them- 
selves patriots  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word. 


§  89.  The  Church  and  Slavery. 

Wallon  :  Histoire  de  I'esclavage  de  I'antiquite.  Par.  1847.  3  vols.  Moh- 
LER  (R.  C.)  :  Bruchstiicke  aus  der  Geschichte  der  Aufhebung  der  Skla- 
verei.  1834.  (Vermischte  Scliriften,  vol.  2nd,  jd.  54  sqq.)  Schaff: 
History  of  the  Apost.  Church,  §  113,  p.  454  sqq.  (The  American  works 
on  slavery,  by  Bledsoe,  Armstrong,  Boss,  Carey,  Hodge,  Goodell,  Charming, 
Barnes,  Cheever,  and  many  others,  are  controversial,  not  historical,  and 
relate  to  the  modern  question  of  negro-slavery.) 

Heathenism  had  no  conception  whatever  of  the  general  and 


316  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D,    100-311. 

natural  rights  of  men.  The  ancient  republics  consisted  in  the 
exclusive  dominion  of  a  minority  over  a  hopelessly  oppressed 
majority.  Both  the  Greeks  and  Romans  regarded  only  the  free, 
i.  e.  the  free-born  rich  and  independent  citizens  as  men  in  the  full 
sense  of  the  term,  and  denied  this  privilege  to  the  foreigners,  the 
laborers,  the  poor,  and  the  slaves.  They  claimed  the  natural 
right  to  make  war  upon  all  foreign  nations,  without  distinction 
of  race,  in  order  to  subject  them  to  their  iron  rule.  Even  with 
Cicero  the  foreigner  and  the  enemy  are  synonymous  terms.  The 
barbarians  were  taken  in  thousands  by  the  chance  of  war  (above 
100,000  in  the  Jewish  war  alone)  and  sold  as  cheap  as  horses. 
Besides,  an  active  slave-trade  was  carried  on,  particularly  in  the 
Euxine,  the  eastern  provinces,  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  Britain. 
It  may  be  safely  asserted  that  the  greater  part  of  mankind  in  the 
old  Roman  empire  was  reduced  to  a  hopeless  state  of  slavery, 
and  to  a  half  brutish  level.^     And  this  evil  of  slavery  was  so 

'  Attica  numbered,  according  to  Ctesicles,  under  the  governorship  of  Demetrius 
the  Phalerian  (309  B.C.),  400,000  slaves,  10,000  foreigners,  and  only  21,000  free  citi- 
zens. In  Sparta  the  disproportion  was  still  greater.  As  to  the  Roman  empire, 
Gibbon  estimates  tlie  number  of  slaves,  under  tlie  reign  of  Claudius,  at  no  less  than 
one  half  of  the  entire  population,  i.  e.  about  sixty  millions  (I.  52  ed.  Milman,  X.  Y. 
1850).  But  according  to  Robertson  there  were  twice  as  many  slaves  as  free  citizens, 
and  Blair  (in  his  work  on  Roman  slavery,  Edinb.  1833,  p.  15)  estimates  over  three 
slaves  to  one  freeman,  between  the  conquest  of  Greece  (146  B.C.)  and  the  reign  of 
Alexander  Severus  (a.d.  222-235).  The  proportion  was  of  course  very  different  in 
the  cities  and  in  the  rural  districts.  Athaenaeus,  as  quoted  by  Gibbon  (p.  51)  boldly 
asserts  that  he  knew  very  many  (TofuroXXoi)  Romans  who  possessed,  not  for  use,  but 
ostentation,  ten  and  even  twenty  thousand  slaves  In  a  single  palace  at  Rome  four  hun- 
dred slaves  were  maintained,  and  were  all  executed  for  not  preventing  their  master's 
murder  (Tacit.  Annal.  XIV.  43).  Tlie  legal  condition  of  tlie  slaves  is  tlius  described 
by  Taylor  on  Civil Laiu,  as  quoted  in  Cooper's  Justinian,  p. 411 :  "Slaves  were  held 
pro  nullis,  pro  nwritds,  pro  quadruj^edibus ;  nay,  were  in  a  much  worse  state  than  any 
cattle  whatsoever.  They  had  no  head  in  the  state,  no  name,  no  title,  or  register ; 
they  were  not  capable  of  being  injured;  nor  could  they  take  by  purcliase  or  descent ; 
they  had  no  heirs,  and  therefore  could  make  no  will ;  they  wore  not  entitled  to  the 
rights  and  considerations  of  matrimony,  and  therefore  had  no  relief  in  case  of  adul- 
tery ;  nor  were  they  proper  objects  of  cognation  or  affinity,  liut  of  quasi-cognation 
only;  they  could  be  sold,  transferred,  or  pawned,  as  goods  or  personal  estate,  for 
goods  they  were,  and  as  such  they  were  esteemed ;  they  might  be  tortured  for 
evidence,  punished  at  the  discretion  of  their  lord,  and  even  put  to  death  by  his 
authority;  together  with  many  other  civil  incapacities  which  I  have  no  room  to 
ennumerate."  Gibbon  (p.  48)  thinks  that  "against  such  internal  enemies,  whose 
desperate  insurrections  had  more  than  once  reduced  the  republic  to  tlic  brink  of 


§  89.   THE  CHURCH  AND  SLAVERY.         317 

tlioroiiglily  interwoven  with  the  entire  domestic  and  pubhc  life 
of  the  heathen  world,  and  so  deliberately  regarded,  even  by  the 
greatest  philosophers,  Aristotle  for  instance,  as  natural  and  indis- 
pensable, that  the  abolition  of  it  seemed  to  belong  among  the 
impossible  things. 

Yet  from  the  outset  Christianity  has  labored  for  this  end; 
not  by  impairing  the  right  of  property,  not  by  outward  violence, 
nor  sudden  revolution ;  this,  under  the  circumstances,  would 
only  have  made  the  evil  worse ;  but  by  its  moral  power,  by 
preaching  the  divine  character  and  original  unity  of  all  men, 
their  common  redemption  through  Christ,  the  duty  of  brotherly 
love,  and  the  true  freedom  of  the  spirit.  It  placed  slaves  and 
masters  on  the  same  footing  of  dependence  on  God  and  of  free- 
dom in  God,  the  Father,  Redeemer,  and  Judge  of  both.  It  con- 
ferred inward  freedom  even  under  outward  bondage,  and  taught 
obedience  to  God  and  for  the  sake  of  God,  even  in  the  enjoyment 
of  outward  freedom.  This  moral  and  religious  freedom  must 
lead  at  last  to  the  personal  and  civil  liberty  of  the  individual ; 
since  Christianity  redeems  not  only  the  soul  but  the  body  also, 
and  the  process  of  regeneration  ends  in  the  resurrection  and 
glorification  of  the  entire  natural  world. 

In  the  period  before  us,  however,  the  abolition  of  slavery,  save 
in  isolated  cases  of  manumission,  was  utterly  out  of  question, 
considering  only  the  enormous  number  of  the  slaves.  The  world 
was  far  from  ripe  for  such  a  step.  The  church,  in  her  persecuted 
condition,  had  as  yet  no  influence  at  all  over  the  machinery  of 
the  state  and  the  civil  legislation.     And  she  was  at  that  time  so 


destruction,  the  most  severe  regulations  and  the  most  cruel  treatment  seemed  almost 
justifiable  by  the  great  law  of  self-preservation."  It  is  but  just  to  remark,  that  the 
philosophers  of  the  first  and  second  century,  Seneca,  Pliny,  and  Plutarch,  entertain 
much  milder  views  on  this  subject  than  the  older  writers,  and  commend  a  humane 
treatment  of  the  slaves ;  also  that  the  Antonines  improved  their  condition  to  some 
extent,  and  took  the  oft  abused  jurisdiction  of  life  and  death  over  the  slaves  out  of 
private  hands,  and  vested  it  in  the  magistrates.  But  at  that  time  Christian  principles 
and  sentiments  already  freely  circulated  throughout  the  empire,  and  exerted  a  silent 
influence  even  over  the  educated  heathens.  This  unconscious  atmospheric  influence, 
so  to  speak,  is  continually  exerted  by  Christianity  over  the  surrounding  world,  which 
without  this  would  be  far  worse  than  it  actually  is. 


318  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

absorbed  in  the  transcendent  importance  of  tbe  liiglier  world  and 
in  her  longing  for  the  speedy  return  of  the  Lord,  that  she  cared 
very  little  for  any  earthly  freedom  or  temporal  happiness.  Hence 
Ignatius,  in  his  epistle  to  Polycarp,  counsels  servants  to  serve 
only  the  more  zealously  to  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  that  they  may 
receive  from  God  the  higher  freedom ;  and  not  to  attempt  to  be 
redeemed  at  the  expense  of  their  Christian  brethren,  lest  they  be 
found  slaves  to  their  own  caprice.  From  this  we  see  that  slaves, 
in  whom  faith  awoke  the  sense  of  manly  dignity  and  the  desire 
of  freedom,  were  accustomed  to  demand  their  redemption  at  the 
expense  of  the  church,  as  a  right,  and  were  thus  liable  to  value 
the  earthly  freedom  more  than  the  spiritual.  Hence  the  apos- 
tolic father's  admonition,  which  seems  to  be  rather  inconsistent 
with  the  advice  of  St.  Paul :  "If  thou  may  est  be  free,  use  it 
rather ;  for  he  that  is  called  in  the  Lord,  being  a  servant,  is  the 
Lord's  freeman."^  Tertullian  declares  the  outward  freedom 
worthless  without  the  inward,  without  the  ransom  of  the  soul 
from  the  bondage  of  sin.  "  How  can  the  world,"  says  he,  "  make 
a  servant  free  ?  All  is  mere  show  in  the  world,  nothing  truth. 
For  the  slave  is  already  free,  as  a  purchase  of  Christ ;  and  the 
freedman  is  a  servant  of  Christ.  If  thou  takest  the  freedom  which 
the  world  can  give  for  true,  thou  hast  thereby  become  again  the 
servant  of  man,  and  hast  lost  the  freedom  of  Christ,  in  that  thou 
thinkcst  it  bondage."  Chrysostom,  in  the  fourth  century,  was 
the  first  of  the  fathers  to  discuss  the  question  of  slavery  at  large 
in  the  spirit  of  the  apostle  Paul,  and  to  recommend,  though 
cautiously,  a  gradual  emancipation. 

But  the  church  before  Constantine  labored  with  great  success 
to  improve  the  intellectual  and  moral  condition  of  the  slaves,  to 
adjust  inwardly  the  inequality  between  slaves  and  masters,  as 
the  first  and  efficient  step  towards  the  final  outward  abolition  of 
the  evil,  and  to  influence  the  public  opinion  even  of  the  hea- 
thens, as  may  be  seen  in  the  milder  views  of  a  Seneca,  Pliny, 
Plutarch,  and  the  later  legislation  concerning  the  treatment  of 
this  unfortunate  class  of  men. 

'  1  Cor.  vii.  21,  22. 


§   89.      THE   CHURCH   AND   SLAVERY.  819 

It  is  here  to  be  considered,  first  of  all,  that  Christianity  spread 
freely  among  the  slaves,  except  where  they  were  so  extremely 
rude  as  to  be  insensible  to  all  higher  impressions  ;  and  that  they 
were  not  rarely  the  instruments  of  the  conversion  of  their  mas- 
ters, especially  of  the  women  and  children,  whose  training  was 
frequently  intrusted  to  them.  Not  a  few  slaves  died  martyrs, 
and  were  ^enrolled  among  the  saints ;  Onesimus,  for  example, 
Eutychus,  Victorinus,  Maro,  Nereus,  Achilleus,  Potamiaena,  and 
others.  An  ancient  tradition  makes  Onesimus,  the  slave  of  Phi- 
lemon, bishop  of  Beroea  in  Macedonia.^  According  to  the  ac- 
count of  the  author  of  the  "Philosoplioumena"  even  a  Eoman 
bishop,  Calixtus  I,,  in  the  early  part  of  the  third  century,  was 
originally  a  slave.  Celsus  cast  it  up  as  a  reproach  to  Christian- 
ity, that  it  let  itself  down  so  readily  to  slaves,  fools,  women,  and 
children.  But  Origen  justly  saw  an  excellence  of  the  new  reli- 
gion in  this  very  fact,  that  it  could  raise  this  despised  and,  in 
the  prevailing  view,  irreclaimable  class  of  men  to  the  level  of 
moral  purity  and  worth.  If,  then,  converted  slaves,  with  the 
full  sense  of  their  intellectual  and  religious  superiority,  still  re- 
mained obedient  to  their  heathen  masters,  and  even  served  them 
more  faithfully  than  before,  resisting  decidedly  only  their  immo- 
ral demands  (like  Potamiaena,  and  other  chaste  women  and  vir- 
gins in  the  service  of  voluptuous  masters), — ^they  showed,  in 
this  very  self-control,  the  best  proof  of  their  ripeness  for  civil 
freedom,  and  at  the  same  time  furnished  the  fairest  memorial  of 
that  Christian  faith,  which  raised  the  soul,  in  the  enjoyment  of 
sonship  with  God  and  in  the  hope  of  the  blessedness  of  heaven, 
above  the  sufferings  and  the  conflicts  of  earth.  Euelpistes,  a 
slave  of  the  imperial  household,  who  was  carried  with  Justin 
Martyr  to  the  tribunal  of  Eusticus,  on  being  questioned  con- 
cerning his  condition,  replied :  "  I  am  a  slave  of  the  emperor, 
but  I  am  also  a  Christian,  and  have  received  liberty  from  Jesus 
Christ;  by  his  grace  I  have  the  same  hope  as  my  brethren." 

'  According  to  the  Apost.  Constitutions  VII.  46,  St.  Paul  himself  ordained  and 
installed  him  as  bishop  over  that  congregation.  But  the  Roman  Martyrologium 
makes  him  successor  of  Timothy  at  Ephesus. 


320  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

Where  the  owners  of  the  slaves  themselves  became  Christians, 
the  old  relation  virtually  ceased ;  both  came  together  to  the 
table  of  the  Lord,  and  felt  themselves  brethren  of  one  family,  in 
striking  contrast  with  the  condition  of  things  among  their  hea- 
then neighbors  as  expressed  in  the  current  proverb  :  "  As  many 
enemies  as  slaves."^  That  there  actually  were  such  cases  of  fra- 
ternal fellowship,  like  that  which  St.  Paul  recommciMed  to  Phi- 
lemon, we  have  the  testimony  of  Lactantius,  at  the  end  of  our 
period,  who  writes  in  his  Institutes,^  no  doubt  from  life :  "  Should 
any  say :  Are  there  not  also  among  you  poor  and  rich,  servants 
and  masters,  distinctions  among  individuals  ?  No  ;  we  call  our- 
selves brethren  for  no  other  reason,  than  that  we  hold  ourselves 
all  equal.  For  since  we  measure  everything  human  not  b}^  its 
outward  appearance,  but  by  its  intrinsic  value,  we  have,  not- 
withstanding the  difference  of  outward  relations,  no  slaves,  but 
we  call  them  and  consider  them  brethren  in  the  Spirit  and  fel- 
low-servants in  religion."  The  same  writer  says  :  "  God  would 
have  all  men  equal.^  .  .  .  With  him  there  is  neither  servant  nor 
master.  If  he  is  the  same  Father  to  all,  they  are  all  with  the 
same  right  free.  So  no  one  is  poor  before  God,  but  he  who  is 
destitute  of  righteousness ;  no  one  rich,  but  he  who  is  full  of 
virtues." 

Such  views  must  lead  us  to  presume,  that  even  in  this  early 
period  instances  of  actual  manumission  among  Christian  slave- 
owners were  not  rare.  And  we  read,  in  fact,  in  the  Acts  of  the 
martyrdom  of  the  Eoman  bishop  Alexander,  that  a  Roman  pre- 
fect, Ilermas,  converted  by  that  bishop,  in  the  reign  of  Trajan, 
received  baptism  at  an  Easter  festival  with  his  wife  and  children 
and  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  slaves,  and  on  this  occasion  gave 
all  his  slaves  their  freedom  and  munificent  gifts  besides,*     So  in 

'  Totidem  esse  hostes,  quot  servos. — Seneca,  Ep.  47. 

s  Lib.  V.  c.  15  (ed.  Fritzsche.     Lips   1842,  p.  257). 

3  Inst.  V.  14  (p.  257):  Deus  enim,  qui  homines  gcnerat  et  inspirat,  omnes  acquoa, 
id  est  pares  esse  voluit ;  candcm  conditionem  vivcndi  omnibus  posuit ;  oinnes  ad 
sapientiam  gcnuit;  omnibus  immortalitatcm  spopondit,  nemo  a  beneticiis  coelestibus 
segrogatur.  .  .  .  Nemo  apud  eum  servus  est,  nemo  dominus ;  si  enim  cunctis  idem 
Pater  est,  aequo  jure  oinnes  liberi  sumus. 

*  Acta  Sanct.  Boll.  Maj.  tom.  i.  p.  371, 


§   90.      PKAYER   AND   FASTING.  321 

the  martyrology  of  St.  Sebastian,  it  is  related  tliat  a  wealthy  Eo- 
man  prefect,  Chromatius,  under  Diocletian,  on  embracing  Chris- 
tianity, emancipated  fourteen  hundred  slaves,  after  having  them 
baptized  with  himself,  because  their  sonship  with  God  put  an 
end  to  their  servitude  to  man.^  In  the  beginning  of  the  fourth 
century  St.  Cantius,  Cantianus,  and  Cantianilla,  of  an  old  Eo- 
man  family,  set  aU  their  slaves,  seventy-three  in  number,  at 
liberty,  after  they  had  received  baptism.^  These  traditions  may 
indeed  be  doubted  as  to  the  exact  facts  in  the  case ;  but  they 
are  nevertheless  conclusive  for  our  purpose  as  the  exponents  of 
the  spirit  which  animated  the  church  at  that  time  concerning 
the  duty  of  Christian  masters.  It  was  felt  that  in  a  thoroughly 
Christianized  society  there  can  be  no  room  for  despotism  on  the 
one  hand  and  slavery  on  the  other.  After  the  third  century 
the  manumission  became  a  solemn  act,  which  took  place  in  the 
presence  of  the  clergy  and  the  congregation.  The  master  led' 
the  slave  to  the  altar;  there  the  document  of  emancipation  was- 
read,  the  minister  pronounced  the  blessing,  and  the  congregation; 
received  him  as  a  free  brother  with  equal  rights  and  privileges. 
Constantine  found  this  custom  already  established,  and  African 
councils  of  the  fourth  century  requested  the  emperor  to  give  it 
general  force. 

§  90.  Prayer  and  Fasting. 

In  regard  to  the  importance  and  the  necessity  of  prayer,  as 
the  pulse  and  thermometer  of  spiritual  life,  the  ancient  church 
had  but  one  voice.  Here  the  plainest  and  the  most  enlightened 
Christians  met ;  the  apostolic  fathers,  the  steadfast  apologists,  the 
realistic  Africans,  and  the  idealistic  Alexandrians.  Tertullian 
sees  in  prayer  the  daily  sacrifice  of  the  Christian,  the  bulwark  of 
faith,  the  weapon  against  all  the  enemies  of  the  soul.  The  be- 
liever should  not  go  to  his  bath  nor  take  his  food  without  pray- 
er ;  for  the  nourishing  and  refreshing  of  the  spirit  must  precede 
that  of  the  body,  and  the  heavenly  must  go  before  the  earthly. 

1  Acta  Sanct.  Ian.  torn.  ii.  p.  275.  '  Acta  Sanct.  Maj.  torn.  vi.  p.  7'77. 

21 


822  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

*'  Prayer,"  says  lie,  "  blots  out  sins,  repels  temptations,  quenches 
persecutions,  comforts  the  desponding,  blesses  the  high-minded, 
guides  the  wanderers,  calms  the  billows,  feeds  the  poor,  directs 
the  rich,  raises  the  fallen,  holds  up  the  falling,  preserves  them 
that  stand."  Cyprian  requires  prayer  by  day  and  by  night; 
pointing  to  heaven,  where  we  shall  never  cease  to  pray  and  give 
thanks.  The  same  father,  however,  falls  already  into  that  false, 
unevangelical  view,  which  represents  prayer  as  a  meritorious 
work  and  a  satisfaction  to  be  rendered  to  God.^  Clement  of 
Alexandria  conceives  the  life  of  a  genuine  Christian  as  an  un- 
broken prayer.  "In  every  place  he  will  pray,  though  not 
openly,  in  the  sight  of  the  multitude.  Even  on  his  walks,  in 
his  intercourse  with  others,  in  silence,  in  reading,  and  in  labor, 
he  prays  in  every  way.  And  though  he  commune  with  God 
only  in  the  chamber  of  his  soul,  and  call  upon  the  Father  only 
with  a  quiet  sigh,  the  Father  is  near  him."  The  same  idea  we 
find  in  Origen,  who  discourses  in  enthusiastic  terms  of  the 
mighty  inward  and  outward  effects  of  prayer,  and,  with  all  his 
enormous  learning,  regards  prayer  as  the  sole  key  to  the  mean- 
ing of  the  scriptures. 

The  order  of  human  life,  however,  demands  special  times  for 
this  consecration  of  the  every-day  business  of  men.  The  Chris- 
tians generally  followed  the  Jewish  usage,  observed  as  times  of 
prayer  the  hours  of  nine,  twelve,  and  three,  corresponding  also 
to  the  crucifixion  of  Christ,  his  death,  and  his  descent  from  the 
cross ;  the  cock-crowing  likewise,  and  the  still  hour  of  midnight 
they  regarded  as  calls  to  prayer. 

With  prayer  for  their  own  welfare  they  united  intercessions 
for  the  whole  church,  for  all  classes  of  men,  especially  for  the 
sick  and  the  needy,  and  even  for  the  unbelieving.  Polycarp 
enjoins  on  the  church  of  Philipj)i  to  pray  for  all  the  saints,  for 
kings  and  rulers,  for  haters  and  persecutors,  and  for  the  enemies 


'  De  orat.  domin.  33  :  Cito  orationes  ad  Deum  adsccndvuit,  quas  ad  Dcum  raerita 
operis  nostri  imponunt.  De  lapsis  17  :  Doniinus  orandus  est,  Dominua  nostra  satis- 
factione  placandus  est.  Epist.  xl.  2 :  Preces  et  orationes,  quibus  Dorainus  longa  et 
conlinua  satisfactione  placandus  est. 


§   90.      PEAYER   AND   FASTING.  323 

of  the  cross.  "  We  pray,"  says  Tertullian,  "  even  for  tlie  emperors 
and  tlieir  ministers,  for  tlie  Holders  of  power  on  earth,  for  the  re- 
pose of  all  classes,  and  for  the  delay  of  the  end  of  the  world."^ 

With  the  free  outpourings  of  the  heart,  without  which  living 
piety  cannot  exist,  we  must  suppose,  that,  after  the  example  of 
the  Jewish  church,  standing  forms  of  prayer  were  also  used, 
especially  such  as  were  easily  impressed  on  the  memory  and 
could  thus  be  freely  delivered.  The  familiar  "  ex  pectore"  and 
"sine  monitore"  of  Tertullian  are  nothing  against  this;  for  a 
prayer  committed  to  memory  may  and  should  be  at  the  same 
time  a  prayer  of  the  heart,  as  a  familiar  psalm  or  hymn  may  be 
read  or  sung  with  ever  new  devotion.  The  general  use  of  the 
Lord's  prayer  in  the  ancient  church  in  household  and  public 
worship  is  beyond  all  doubt.  The  most  eminent  fathers  of  the 
second  and  third  centuries,  as  Tertullian,  Cyprian,  Origen,  wrote 
special  treatises  upon  it.  They  considered  it  the  model  prayer, 
prescribed  by  the  Lord  for  the  whole  church.  Tertullian  calls 
it  the  "  regular  and  usual  prayer,^  a  brief  summary  of  the  whole 
gospel,  and  foundation  of  all  the  other  prayers  of  the  Christians." 
The  use  of  it,  however,  was  restricted  to  communicants;  because 
the  address  presupposes  the  worshipper's  full  sonship  with  God, 
and  because  the  fourth  petition  was  taken  in  a  mystical  sense, 
as  referring  to  the  holy  supper,  and  was  therefore  thought  not 
proper  for  catechumens.  The  celebrated  "  Gloria  in  Excelsis," 
the  Greek  original  of  which  dates  probably  from  the  third  cen- 
tury, and  is  even  appended  to  the  Alexandrian  codex  of  the 
Bible,  was  a  morning  prayer  of  the  early  church.  Of  like  age 
is  the  evening  hymn  of  the  Greek  Christians  in  the  Apostolic 
Constitutions.^  The  Constitutions  contain  also  special  prayers  for 
believers,  catechumens,  the  possessed,  the  penitent,  and  even  for 
the  dead,  and  a  complete  eucharistic  service,  which  forms  one  of 
the  older  portions  of  this  gradually  collected  work,  although  it 
was  probably  not  committed  to  writing  till  the  fourth  century. 

'  Pro  mora  finis.  2  Oratio  legitima  et  ordinaria. 

'  "Yf/vof  Tov  >.v^viKov,  beginning:  ^wj  l\apuv  ayiag  Sd^ri;.  Routh  (Reliq.  s.  ill.  515) 
assigns  this  hymnus  vespertinus  to  the  second  century. 


82-i  SECOND  PERIOD.    A.D.   100-311. 

As  to  posture  in  prayer;  kneeling  or  standing,  the  raising  or 
closing  of  the  eyes,  the  extension  or  elevation  of  the  hands,  were 
considered  the  most  suitable  ex^Dressions  of  a  bowing  spirit  and 
a  soul  directed  towards  God.  On  Sunday  the  standing  posture 
was  adopted,  in  token  of  festive  joy  over  the  resurrection  from 
sin  and  death.  But  there  was  no  ■uniform  law  in  regard  to  these 
forms.  Origen  lays  chief  stress  on  the  lifting  of  the  soul  to  God 
and  the  bowing  of  the  heart  before  him ;  and  says  that,  where 
circumstances  require,  one  can  worthily  pray  sitting,  or  lying, 
or  engaged  in  business. 

After  the  Jewish  custom,  fasting  was  frequently  joined  with 
prayer,  that  the  mind,  unencumbered  by  earthly  matter,  might 
devote  itself  with  less  distraction  to  the  contemplation  of  divine 
things.  The  apostles  tliemselves  sometimes  employed  this  whole- 
some discipline,^  though  without  infringing  the  gospel  freedom 
by  legal  prescriptions.  As  the  Pharisees  were  accustomed  to  fast 
twice  in  the  week,  on  Monday  and  Thursday,  the  Christians 
appointed  Wednesday  and  especially  Friday,  as  days  of  half- 
fasting  or  abstinence  from  flesh,^  in  commemoration  of  the  pas- 
sion and  crucifixion  of  Jesus.  They  did  this  with  reference  to 
the  Lord's  words:  "When  the  bridegroom  shall  be  taken  from 
them,  then  shall  they  fast."^ 

In  the  second  century  arose  also  the  custom  of  Quadragesimal 
fasts  before  Easter,  which,  however,  differed  in  length  in  differ- 
ent countries ;  being  sometimes  reduced  to  forty  hours,  sometimes 
extended  to  forty  days,  or  at  least  to  several  weeks.  Perhaps 
equally  ancient  are  the  nocturnal  fasts  or  vigils  before  the  high 
festivals,  suggested  by  the  example  of  the  Lord  and  the  apostles.* 
But  tlie  Quatemporal  fasts  °  are  of  later  origin,  though  founded 
likewise  on  a  custom  of  the  Jews  after  the  exile.  On  special 
occasions  the  bishops  appointed  extraordinary  fasts,  and  aj^plied 
the  money  saved  to  charitable  purposes ;  a  usage  which  became 
often  a  blessing  to  the  poor.      Yet  hierarchical  arrogance  and 

*  Comp.  Acts  xiii.  2 ;  xiv.  23      2  Cor.  vi.  5. 

*  Semijejunium,  abstineiitia.     Comp.  §  99.  3  Matt.  ix.  15. 

*  Luke  vi.  12.     Acts  xvL  25  *  From  quabwr  tempora. 


§   91.      MARRIAGE   AND   FAMILY   LIFE.  825 

Judaistic  legalism  early  intruded  here,  even  to  tlie  entire  de- 
struction of  the  liberty  of  a  Christian  man.^ 

This  rigidity  appeared  most  in  the  Montanists.  Besides  the 
usual  fasts,  they  observed  special  Xerophagiae,^  as  they  were 
called ;  seasons  of  two  weeks  for  eating  only  dry,  or  properly 
uncooked  food,  bread,  salt,  and  water.  The  Catholic  church, 
with  true  feeling,  refused  to  sanction  these  excesses  as  a  general 
rule,  but  allowed  ascetics  to  carry  fasting  even  to  extremes.  A 
confessor  in  Lyons,  for  example,  lived  on  bread  and  water  alone, 
but  forsook  that  austerity,  when  reminded  that  he  gave  offence 
to  other  Christians  by  so  despising  the  gifts  of  Grod. 

Against  the  frequent  over-valuation  of  fasting  Clement  of 
Alexandria  quotes  the  word  of  Paul :  The  kingdom  of  God  is 
not  meat  and  drink,  therefore  neither  abstinence  from  wine  and 
flesh,  but  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

§  91.  Marriage,  and  Family  Life. 

In  ancient  Greece  and  Eome  the  state  was  the  highest  object 
of  life,  and  the  only  virtues  properly  recognised,  wisdom,  courage, 
moderation,  and  justice,  were  political  virtues.  Aristotle  makes 
the  state,  that  is  the  organized  body  of  free  citizens^  (foreigners  and 
slaves  are  excluded),  precede  the  family  and  the  individual,  and 
calls  man  essentially  a  "political  animal."  In  Plato's  ideal  com- 
monwealth the  state  is  everything  and  owns  everything,  even  the 
children.  This  political  absolutism  destroys  the  proper  dignity 
and  rights  of  the  individual  and  the  family,  and  materially 
hinders  the  development  of  the  domestic  and  private  virtues. 
Marriage  was  allowed  no  moral  character,  but  merely  a  political 
import  for  the  preservation  of  the  state,  and  could  not  be  legally 
contracted  except  by  free  citizens,  Socrates,  in  instructing  his 
son  concerning  this  institution,  tells  him,  according  to  Xenophon, 
that  we  select  only  such  wives  as  we  hope  will  yield  beautiful 
children.     Plato  recommends  even  community  of  women  to  the 

1  Comp.  Matt.  ix.  15.     Gal.  iv.  9;  v.  1. 

2  'Znpo'payiai,  aridus  victus.     See  TertuU.  De  jejun.  15.    HippoL  Refut.  VIII.  19. 

3  Koivoji/ta  Tcov  c)iev^ipo)v. 


826  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

class  of  warriors  in  his  ideal  republic,  as  the  best  way  to  secure 
vigorous  citizens.  Ljcurgus,  for  similar  reasons,  encouraged 
adultery  under  certain  circumstances,  requiring  old  men  to  lend 
their  young  and  handsome  wives  to  young  and  strong  men. 
"Woman  was  placed  almost  on  the  same  level  with  the  slave. 
She  differs,  indeed,  from  the  slave,  according  to  Aristotle,  but 
has,  after  all,  really  no  will  of  her  own,  and  is  hardly  capable  of  a 
higher  virtue  than  the  slave.  Shut  up  in  a  retired  apartment 
of  the  house,  she  spent  her  life  with  the  slaves.  As  human  na 
ture  is  essentially  the  same  in  all  ages,  and  as  it  is  never  entirely 
forsaken  by  the  guidance  of  a  kind  Providence,  we  must  cer- 
tainly suppose  that  female  virtue  was  always  more  or  less  main- 
tained and  appreciated  even  among  the  heathen.  Such  characters 
as  Penelope,  Nausicaa,  Andromache,  Antigone,  Iphigenia,  and 
Diotima,  of  the  Greek  poetry  and  history,  bear  witness  of  this. 
But  the  general  position  assigned  to  woman  by  the  jDoets,  philoso- 
phers, and  legislators  of  antiquity,  was  one  of  social  oppression 
and  degradation.  In  Athens  she  was  treated  as  a  minor  during 
life-time,  and  could  not  inherit  except  in  the  absence  of  male 
heirs.  To  the  question  of  Socrates:  "Is  there  any  one  with 
whom  you  converse  less  than  with  the  wife  ?"  his  pupil,  Aristo- 
bulus,  replies:  "No  one,  or  at  least  very  few."  K  she  excelled 
occasionally,  in  Greece,  by  wit  and  culture,  and,  like  Aspasia, 
Phryne,  Lais,  Theodota,  attracted  the  admiration  and  courtship 
even  of  earnest  philosophers  and  statesmen,  she  generally  be- 
longed to  the  disreputable  class  of  the  Irarpai  or  amicae,  who,  in 
Corinth,  were  attached  to  the  temple  of  Aphrodite,  and  enjoyed 
the  sanction  of  religion  for  the  practice  of  vice.  How  could 
there  be  any  proper  conception  and  abhorrence  of  the  sin  of 
licentiousness  and  adultery,  if  the  very  gods,  a  Jupiter,  a  Mars, 
and  a  Venus,  were  believed  to  be  guilty  of  those  crimes ! 
Modesty  forbids  the  mention  of  a  still  more  odious  vice,  which 
even  depraved  nature  abhors,  which  yet  was  freely  discussed 
and  praised  by  ancient  poets  and  philosophers,  practised  with 
neither  punishment  nor  dishonor,  and  likewise  divinely  sanc- 
tioned by  the  lewdness  of  Jupiter  with  Ganymede. 


§   91.      MARRIAGE   AND   FAMILY   LIFE.  327 

The  Eomans  were  originally  more  virtuous,  domestic,  and 
chaste,  as  they  were  more  honest  and  conscientious,  than  the 
Greeks.  With  them  the  wife  was  honored  by  the  title  domina, 
matrona,  materfamilias.  But  they  likewise  made  marriage  alto- 
gether subservient  to  the  interest  of  the  state,  and  allowed  it  in 
its  legal  form  to  free  citizens  alone.  The  proud  maxims  of  the 
republic  prohibited  even  the  legitimate  nuptials  of  a  Eoman  with 
a  foreign  queen  ;  and  Cleopatra  and  Berenice  were,  as  strangers, 
degraded  to  the  position  of  concubines  of  Mark  Antony  and 
Titus.  According  to  ancient  custom  the  husband  bought  his 
bride  from  her  parents,  and  she  fulfilled  the  coemption  by  pur- 
chasing, with  three  pieces  of  copper,  a  just  introduction  to  his 
house  and  household  deities.  But  this  was  for  her  simply  an 
exchange  of  one  servitude  for  another.  She  became  the  living 
property  of  a  husband,  who  could  lend  her  out,  as  Cato  lent 
his  wife  to  his  friend  Hortensius,  and  as  Augustus  took  Livia 
from  Tiberius  Nero.  "Her  husband  or  master" — says  the  cele- 
brated historian  of  imperial  Rome,  who  will  not  be  charged  with 
exaggeration  of  the  fliults  of  his  heroes' — "  was  invested  with  the 
plenitude  of  paternal  power.  By  his  judgment  or  caprice  her 
behavior  was  approved,  or  censured,  or  chastised ;  he  exercised 
the  jurisdiction  of  life  and  death;  and  it  was  allowed,  that  in 
cases  of  adultery  or  drunkenness,  the  sentence  might  be  properly 
inflicted.  She  acquired  and  inherited  for  the  sole  profit  of  her 
lord ;  and  so  clearly  was  woman  defined,  not  as  a  person^  but  as 
a  tiling^  that,  if  the  original  title  were  deficient,  she  might  be 
claimed  like  other  movables,  by  the  use  and  possession  of  an 
entire  year."  Monogamy  was  the  rule  both  in  Greece  and  in 
Eome,  but  did  not  exclude  illegitimate  connexions.  Concubinage, 
in  its  proper  legal  sense,  was  a  sort  of  secondary  marriage  with 
a  woman  of  servile  or  plebeian  extraction,  standing  below  the 
dignity  of  a  matron  and  above  the  infamy  of  a  prostitute.  It  was 
sanctioned  and  regulated  by  law ;  it  prevailed  both  in  the  East 
and  the  West  from  the  age  of  Augustus  to  the  tenth  centurj-,  and 

1  Gibbon,  chapter  XLIV.  (vol.  iv.  346  ed.  Milman,  N.  York),  where  he  discusses 
at  length  the  Roman  code  of  laws. 


328  SECOND   PEEIOD.    A.D.    100-311, 

■was  preferred  to  regular  marriage  bj  Vespasian,  and  tlie  two 
Antonines,  the  best  Roman  emperors.  Adultery  was  severely 
punished,  at  times  even  with  suddep  destruction  of  the  offender ; 
but  simply  as  an  interference  with  the  rights  and  property  of  a 
free  man.  The  wife  had  no  legal  or  social  protection  against  the 
infidelity  of  her  husband.  The  Romans  worshipped  a  peculiar 
goddess  of  domestic  life ;  but  her  name  Viriplaca,  the  appeaser 
of  husbands,  indicates  her  partiality.  Besides,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  intercourse  of  a  husband  with  the  slaves  of  his 
household  and  with  public  prostitutes  was  excluded  from  the 
odium  and  punishment  of  adultery.  We  say  nothing  of  that 
unnatural  abomination  alluded  to  in  Rom.  i.  26,  27,  which  seems 
to  have  passed  from  the  Etruscans  and  Greeks  to  the  Romans, 
and  prevailed  among  the  highest  as  well  as  the  lowest  classes. 
The  women,  however,  seem  to  have  been  as  corrupt  as  their  hus- 
bands, at  least  in  the  imperial  age.  Juvenal  calls  a  chaste  wife 
a  "  rara  avis  in  terris."  Under  Augustus  free-bom  daughters 
could  no  longer  be  found  for  the  service  of  Vesta,  and  even  the 
severest  laws  of  Domitian  could  not  prevent  the  six  priestesses  of 
the  pure  goddess  from  breaking  their  vow.  Divorce  is  said  to 
have  been  almost  unknown  in  the  ancient  days  of  the  Roman 
republic.  But  the  customary  civil  and  religious  rites  of  marriage 
were  gradually  disused ;  apparent  open  community  of  life  between 
persons  of  similar  rank  was  taken  as  sufficient  evidence  of  their 
nuptials ;  and  marriage,  after  Augustus,  fell  to  the  level  of  any 
partnership,  which  might  be  dissolved  by  the  abdication  of  one 
of  the  associates.  "  Passion,  interest,  or  caprice,"  says  Gibbon  on 
the  imperial  age,  "suggested  daily  motives  for  the  dissolution 
of  marriage ;  a  word,  a  sign,  a  message,  a  letter,  the  mandate  of  a 
freedman,  declared  the  separation ;  the  most  tender  of  human 
connexions  was  degraded  to  a  transient  society  of  profit  or 
pleasure."^    Various  remedies  were  tardily  adopted  as  the  evil 

'  Gibbon  (IV.  349)  confirms  the  statement  by  several  examples,  to  wliicli  more 
might  be  added.  Maecenas,  "qui  uxores  millies  duxit"  (Seneca,  Ep.  114)  was  as 
notorious  for  his  levity  in  forming  and  dissolving  the  nuptial  tie,  as  famous  for  his 
patronage  of  literature  and  art.  Martial  (Epigr.  VI.  7),  in  evident  poetical  exagge- 
ration, speaks  of  ten  husbands  in  one  month.     Juvenal  (Si\tir.  VI.  20)  exposes  a 


§   91.      MARRIAGE   AND   FAMILY   LIFE.  829 

spread,  but  they  proved  inefficient,  until  the  spirit  of  Christianity 
gained  the  control  of  public  opinion  and  improved  tlie  Roman 
legislation,  which,  however,  continued  for  a  long  time  to  fluctu- 
ate between  the  custom  of  heathenism  and  the  wishes  of  the 
church. 

Another  radical  evil  of  heathen  family  life,  which  the  church 
had  to  encounter  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  Roman 
empire,  was  the  absolute  tyrannical  authority  of  the  parent  over 
the  children,  extending  even  to  the  power  of  life  and  death,  and 
placing  the  adult  son  of  a  Roman  citizen  on  a  level  with  the 
movable  things  and  slaves,  "  whom  the  capricious  master  might 
alienate  or  destroy,  without  being  responsible  to  any  earthly 
tribunal."  With  this  was  connected  the  unnatural  and  mon- 
strous custom  of  exposing  poor,  sickly,  or  deformed  children  to  a 
cruel  death,  or  in  many  cases  to  a  life  of  slavery  or  infamy, — 
a  custom  expressly  approved,  for  the  public  interest,  even  by  a 
Plato  and  an  Aristotle !  "  The  exposition  of  children" — to  quote 
once  more  from  Gibbon — "  was  the  prevailing  and  stubborn  vice 
of  antiquity :  it  was  sometimes  prescribed,  often  permitted,  al- 
most always  practised  with  impunity  by  the  nations  who  never 
entertained  the  Roman  ideas  of  paternal  power ;  and  the  dramatic 
poets,  who  appeal  to  the  human  heart,  represent  with  indiffer- 
ence a  popular  custom  which  was  palliated  by  the  motives  of 
economy  and  compassion.  The  Roman  empire  was  stained  with 
the  blood  of  infants,  till  such  murders  were  included,  by  Yalen- 
tinian  and  his  colleagues,  in  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Cornelian 
law.  The  lessons  of  jurisprudence  and  Christianity  had  been 
insufficient  to  eradicate  this  inhuman  practice,  till  their  gentle 
influence  was  fortified  by  the  terrors  of  capital  punishment." — 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  domestic  life  of  the  ancient 
world,  when  Christianity,  with  its  doctrine  of  the  sanctity  of 
marriage,  with  its  injunction  of  chastity,  and  with  its  elevation 
of  woman  from  her  half-slavish  condition  to  moral  dignitj-  and 

matron,  who  in  five  years  submitted  to  the  embraces  of  eight  husbands.  Jerome 
(ad  Gerontiam)  "  saw  at  Rome  a  triumphant  husband  bury  his  twenty-first  wife,  who 
had  interred  twenty-two  of  his  less  sturdy  predecessors." 


330  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

equality  with  man,  began  the  work  of  a  silent  transformation, 
which  secured  incalculable  blessings  to  generations  yet  unborn. 
It  laid  the  foundation  for  a  well  ordered  family  life.  It  turned 
the  eye  from  the  outward  world  to  the  inward  sphere  of  affec- 
tion, from  the  all-absorbing  business  of  politics  and  state-life  into 
the  sanctuary  of  home ;  and  encouraged  the  nurture  of  those 
virtues  of  private  life,  without  which  no  true  public  virtue  can 
exist.^  But,  as  the  evil  here  to  be  abated,  particularly  the  degra- 
dation of  the  female  sex  and  the  want  of  chastity,  was  so  deeply 
rooted  and  thoroughly  interwoven  in  the  whole  life  of  the  old 
world,  this  ennobling  of  the  family,  like  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
must  be  a  very  slow  and  tedious  process.  "We  cannot  wonder, 
therefore,  at  the  high  estimate  of  celibacy,  which  in  the  eyes  of 
many  seemed  to  be  the  only  radical  escape  from  the  impurity 
and  misery  of  married  life  as  it  generally  stood  among  the  hea- 
then. But,  although  the  fathers  are  much  more  frequent  and 
enthusiastic  in  the  praise  of  virginity  than  in  that  of  marriage, 
yet  their  views  on  this  subject  show  an  immense  advance  upon 
the  moral  standard  of  the  greatest  sages  and  legislators  of  Greece 
and  Eome. 

Marriage  was  regarded  in  the  church  from  the  beginning  as  a 
sacred  union  of  body  and  soul  for  the  propagation  of  civil  society, 
and  especially  also  the  kingdom  of  God,  for  the  exercise  of  virtue 
and  the  promotion  of  happiness.  It  was  in  its  nature  indissoluble 
except  in  case  of  adultery,  and  this  crime  was  charged  not  only 
to  the  woman,  but  to  the  man  as  even  the  more  guilty  party,  and 
to  every  extra-connubial  carnal  connexion.  Thus  the  wife  was 
equally  protected  against  the  wrongs  of  the  husband,  and  chastity 
was  made  the  general  law  of  the  family  life. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  enjoins  upon  Christian  married  per- 
sons united  prayer  and  reading  of  the  Scriptures,^  as  a  daily 
morning  exercise,  and  very  bcautifulh^  says:  "The  mother  is 
the  glory  of  her  children,  the  wife  is  the  glory  of  her  husband, 
both  are  the  glory  of  the  wife,  God  is  the  glory  of  all  together." 

'  Comp.  §  32,  p.  110  sq.  «  Eix'i  *"'  a^.i). (.„t,j. 


§    91.      MAREIAGE   AND   FAMILY   LIFE.  831 

Sacred  song  also  sometimes  made  part  of  the  family  devotions. 
A  large  sarcophagus,  which  Miinter  assigns  to  the  age  of  the 
Antonines,  represents  an  interesting  scene  of  Christian  family 
worship :  on  the  right,  four  men,  with  rolls  in  their  hands,  read- 
ing or  singing ;  on  the  left,  three  women  and  a  girl  playing  a 
lyre.  Tertullian,  at  the  close  of  the  two  books  which  he  wrote 
to  his  wife,  draws  the  following  graphic  picture  of  a  Christian 
marriage,  which,  though  somewhat  idealized,  could  be  produced 
only  from  the  moral  spirit  of  the  gospel :  ^  "  How  can  I  paint  the 
happiness  of  a  marriage  which  the  church  ratifies,  the  oblation 
(the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  supper)  confirms,  the  benediction 
seals,  angels  announce,  the  Father  declares  valid.  Even  upon 
earth,  indeed,  sons  do  not  legitimately  marry  without  the  consent 
of  their  fathers.  What  a  union  of  two  believers, — one  hope,  one 
vow,  one  discipline,  and  one  worship  !  They  are  brother  and  sis- 
ter, two  fellow-servants,  one  spirit  and  one  flesh.  Where  there  is 
one  flesh,  there  is  also  one  spirit.  They  pray  together,  fast  toge- 
ther, instruct,  exhort,  and  support  each  other.  They  go  together 
to  the  church  of  God,  and  to  the  table  of  the  Lord.  They  share 
each  other's  tribulation,  persecution,  and  revival.  Neither  con- 
ceals anything  from  the  other ;  neither  avoids,  neither  annoys  the 
other.  They  delight  to  visit  the  sick,  supply  the  needy,  give 
alms  without  constraint,  and  in  daily  zeal  lay  their  offerings 
before  the  altar  without  scruple  or  hindrance.  They  do  not 
need  to  keep  the  sign  of  the  cross  hidden,  nor  to  express  slyly 
their  Christian  joy,  nor  to  suppress  the  blessing.  Psalms  and 
hymns  they  sing  together,  and  they  vie  with  each  other  in  singing 
to  God.  Christ  rejoices  when  he  sees  and  hears  this.  He  gives 
them  his  peace.  Where  two  are  together  in  his  name,  there  is 
he ;  and  where  he  is,  there  the  evil  one  cannot  come." 

For  the  conclusion  of  a  marriage,  Ignatius^  required  "the  con- 
sent of  the  bishop,  that  it  might  be  a  marriage  for  God,  and  not 
for  pleasure.  All  should  be  done  to  the  glory  of  God."  In  Ter- 
tullian's  time,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  passage  just  quoted,^ 

*  Ad  uxorem,  1.  II.  c.  8.  2  Ad  Polyc.  c.  5.     In  the  Syr.  version,  c.  2. 

3  Tert.  Ad  uxor.  II.  8 ;  com  p.  De  monog.  c.  11  ;  De  pudic.  c.  4. 


332  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

the  solemnization  of  marriage  was  already  at  least  a  religious  act, 
though  not  a  j)roper  sacrament,  and  was  sealed  by  the  cele- 
bration of  the  holy  supper  in  presence  of  the  congregation. 
The  Montanists  were  disposed  even  to  make  this  benediction 
of  the  church  necessary  to  the  validity  of  marriage  among 
Christians.  All  noisy  and  wanton  Jewish  and  heathen  nuptial 
ceremonies,  and  at  first  also  the  crowning  of  the  bride,  were 
discarded;  but  the  nuptial  ring,  as  a  symbol  of  union,  was 
retained. 

The  voice  of  the  church,  in  agreement  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Old  Testament,  was  unanimous  against  mixed  marriages  with 
persons  not  Christian,  and  also  with  heretics,  unless  formed 
before  conversion,  in  which  case  they  were  considered  valid.^ 
Tertullian  even  classes  such  marriages  with  adultery.  What 
heathen,  asks  he,  will  let  his  wife  attend  the  nightly  meetings  of 
the  church,  and  the  slandered  supper  of  the  Lord,  take  care  of 
the  sick  even  in  the  poorest  hovels,  kiss  the  chains  of  the  mar- 
tyrs in  prison,  rise  in  the  night  for  prayer,  and  show  hospitality 
to  strange  brethren  ?  Cyprian  calls  marriage  with  an  unbeliever 
a  prostitution  of  the  members  of  Christ.  The  council  of  Elvira 
(805)  forbade  such  mixed  marriages  on  pain  of  excommunication, 
but  did  not  dissolve  those  already  existing.  We  shall  under- 
stand this  strictness,  if,  to  say  nothing  of  the  heathen  marriage 
rites,  and  the  wretchedly  loose  notions  on  chastity  and  conjugal 
fidelity,  we  consider  the  condition  of  those  times,  and  the  offences 
and  temptations  which  met  the  Christian  in  the  constant  sight  of 
images  of  the  household  gods,  mythological  pictures  on  the  walls, 
the  floor,  and  the  furniture ;  in  the  libations  at  table ;  in  short, 
at  every  step  and  turn  in  a  pagan  house. 

From  the  high  view  of  marriage,  and  also  from  an  ascetic 
overestimate  of  celibacy,  arose  a  very  prevalent  aversion  to  second 
marriage,  particularly  the  re-marriage  of  widows.  The  Shep- 
herd of  Hermas  allows  this  reunion  indeed,  but  with  the  reser- 
vation, that  continuance  in  single  life  earns  great  honor  with  the 

'  According  to  1  Cor.  vii.  12,  16. 


§   91.      MARRIAGE   AND   FAMILY   LIFE.  333 

Lord.  Atbenagoras  goes  so  far  as  to  call  the  second  marriage  a 
respectable  adultery.^ 

Tertullian  came  forward  with  the  greatest  decision,  as  advo- 
cate of  monogamy  against  both  successive  and  simultaneous 
poljgamj.2  He  thought  thus  to  occupy  the  true  middle 
ground  between  the  ascetic  Gnostics,  who  rejected  marriage 
altogether,  and  the  Catholics,  who  allowed  more  than  one,  ^  In 
the  earlier  period  of  his  life,  when  he  drew  the  above  picture  of 
Christian  marriage,  before  his  adoption  of  Montanism,  he  already 
placed  a  high  estimate  on  celibacy  as  a  superior  grade  of  Christian 
holiness,  appealing  to  1  Cor.  vii.  9,  and  advised  at  least  his  wife, 
in  case  of  his  death,  not  to  marry  again,  especially  with  a 
heathen ;  but  in  his  Montanistic  writings,  De  exhortatione  casti- 
tatis  and  De  monogamia,  he  repudiates  second  marriage  from 
principle,  and  contends  against  it  with  fanatical  zeal,  as  un- 
christian, as  an  act  of  polj^gamy,  nay  of  "  stuprum"  and 
"  adulterium ;"  with  all  sorts  of  acute  and  sophistical  argument ; 
now,  on  the  ground  of  an  ideal  conception  of  marriage  as  a 
spiritual  union  of  two  souls  for  time  and  eternity  ;  now,  from  an 
opposite  sensuous  view ;  and  again,  on  principles  equally  good 
against  all  marriage  and  in  favor  of  celibacy.  Thus,  on  the  one 
hand,  he  argues,  that  the  second  marriage  impairs  the  spiritual 
fellowship  with  the  former  partner,  which  should  continue 
beyond  the  grave,  which  should  show  itself  in  daily  intercessions 
and  in  yearly  celebration  of  the  day  of  death,  and  which  hopes 
even  for  outward  re-union  after  the  resurrection.*  On  the  other 
hand,  however,  he  places  the  essence  of  marriage  in  the  com- 

'  Legat.  33:  'O  Scircpog  yiijiog  cvTrpeTTfii  tan  fioi^eui.     Comp.   Theophilus  ad  Autol. 

III.  15,  where  he   says,  that  with  the   Cliristians  iyKp'tTeia  duKUTai,  ftovyyajiia  rrjourai. 

Perhaps  even  Irenaeus  held  a  similar  view,  to  judge  from  the  manner  in  which  he 
speaks  of  the  woman  of  Samaria  (John  iv.  7),  "  quae  in  uno  viro  non  mansit,  sed 
fornicata  est  in  multis  nuptiis."     Adv.  haer.  III.  17,  §  2. 

"^  Comp.  Hauber :  Tertullian's  Kampf  gegen  die  zweite  Ehe,  in  the  "  Studien  und 
Kritiken"  for  1845,  p.  607  sqq. 

'  De  monog.  1. :  Haeretici  nuptias  auferunt,  psychici  ingerunt ;  illi  nee  semel,  isti 
non  semel  nubunt. 

*  De  exhort,  cast.  c.  11.  Duplex  rubor  est,  quia  in  secundo  matrimonio  duae 
uxores  eundem  circumstant  maritum,  una  spiritu  alia  in  came.     Neque  enim  pristi- 


334  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

munion  of  flesh,'  and  regards  it  as  a  mere  concession,  which  God 
makes  to  our  sensuality,  and  which  man  therefore  should  not 
abuse  by  repetition.  The  ideal  of  the  Christian  life,  with  him, 
not  only  for  the  clergy,  but  for  the  laity  also,  is  celibacy.  He 
lacks  clear  perception  of  the  harmony  of  the  moral  and  physical 
elements  which  constitutes  the  essence  of  marriage ;  and 
strongly  as  he  elsewhere  combats  the  Gnostic  dualism,  he  here 
falls  in  with  it  in  his  depreciation  of  matter  and  corporeity,  as 
necessarily  incompatible  with  spirit.  His  treatment  of  the 
exegetical  arguments  of  the  defenders  of  second  marriage  is 
remarkable.  The  levirate  law,  he  says,  is  peculiar  to  the  Old 
Testament  economy.  To  Eom.  vii.  2  he  replies,  that  Paul 
speaks  here  from  the  position  of  the  Mosaic  law,  which,  according 
to  the  same  passage,  is  no  longer  binding  on  Christians.  In 
1  Cor.  vii.,  the  apostle  allows  second  marriage  only  in  his  sub- 
jective, human  judgment,  and  from  regard  to  our  sensuous 
infirmity  ;  but  in  the  same  chapter  (v.  40)  recommends  celibacy 
to  all,  and  that  on  the  authority  of  tlie  Lord,  adding  here,  that 
he  also  has  the  Holy  Spirit,  i.e.  the  principle,  which  is  active  in 
the  new  prophets  of  Montaiiism.  The  appeal  to  1  Tim.  iii.  2, 
Tit.  i.  6,  from  which  the  right  of  laymen  to  second  marriage 
was  inferred,  as  the  prohibition  of  it  there  related  only  to  the 
clergy,  he  met  with  the  doctrine  of  the  universal  priesthood  of 
believers,  which  admitted  them  all  both  to  the  privileges  and  to 
the  obligations  of  priests.  But  his  reasoning  always  amounts  in 
the  end  to  this  :  that  the  state  of  original  virgin  purity,  which 
has  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  sensual,  is  the  best.  The  true 
chastity  consists,  therefore,  not  in  the  chaste  sjiirit  of  married 
partners,  but  in  the  entire  continence  of  "  virgines"  and 
"  spadones."     The  desire  of  posterity,  he,  contrary  to  the  Old 

nam  potcris  odipsp,  cui  ctiam  religiosiorem  rcservas  affcctioncm  ut  jam  roceptae  apiid 
Dominum,  pro  cujus  spiritu  postnlas,  pro  qua  oblationes  annirns  reddis.  Rtabis 
ergo  ad  Doiniuum  cum  tot  uxoribus  quot  in  orationo  coniniemora.a,  et  ofTcres  pro 
duabus,  etc. 

'  De  exliort.  cast  c.  9:  Leges  vidcntur  matrimonii  et  stiipri  diflerenliam  facerc, 
per  diversitatem  illicili,  nou  per  conditionem  rei  ipsius  .  .  .  Nnptiae  ipsae  ex  eo 
constant  quod  est  stuprum. 


§   91.      MARRIAGE   AIs^D   FAMILY   LIFE.  835 

Testament,  considers  unworthy  of  a  Christian,  who,  in  fact, 
ought  to  break  away  entirely  from  the  world,  and  renounce  all 
inheritance  in  it.  Such  a  morality,  forbidding  the  same  that  it 
allows,  and  rigorously  setting  up  as  an  ideal,  what  it  must  in 
reality  abate  at  least  for  the  mass  of  mankind,  may  be  very  far 
above  the  heathen  level,  but  is  still  plainly  foreign  to  the 
deeper  substance  and  the  world-sanctifying  principle  of  Chris- 
tianit}^ 

The  Catholic  church,  indeed,  kept  aloof  from  this  Montanistic 
extravagance,  and  forbade  second  marriage  only  to  the  clergy ; 
yet  she  rather  advised  against  it,^  and,  as  we  shall  more  particu- 
larly observe  in  §  95,  she  leaned  very  decidedly  towards  a  pre- 
ference for  celibacy,  as  a  higher  grade  of  Christian  morality. 

As  to  the  relation  of  parents  and  children,  Christianity 
exerted  from  the  beginning  a  most  salutary  influence.  It 
restrained  the  tyrannical  power  of  the  father.  It  taught  the 
eternal  value  of  children  as  heirs  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and 
commenced  the  great  work  of  education  on  a  religious  and  moral 
basis.  It  resisted  with  all  energy  the  exposition  of  children, 
who  were  then  generally  devoured  by  dogs  and  wild  beasts,  or 
if  found,  trained  up  for  slavery  or  doomed  to  a  life  of  infamy. 
Several  apologists,  the  author  to  the  Epistle  of  Diognetus,  Justin 
Martyr,^  Minutius  Felix,  and  Arnobius  speak  with  just  indigna- 
tion against  this  unnatural  custom.  Lactantius  puts  it  on  a  par 
with  murder  of  the  worst  kind,  and  admits  no  excuse  on  the 
ground  of  pity  or  poverty,  since  God  provides  for  all  his  crea- 
tures.^ The  Christian  spirit  of  humanity  gradually  so  penetrated 
the  spirit  of  the  age  that  the  better  emperors,  from  the  time  of 

'  Non  proliibemus  secundas  nuptias,  says  Ambrose,  sed  non  suademus. 

^  ApoL  L  27  and  29  (p.  71-77,  ed.  Otto). 

'  Inst.  div.  1.  vi.  20  (p.  -48  ed.  Lips.) :  Ne  illud  quidem  concedi  aliquis  existimet,  ut 
recens  natos  liceat  oblidere,  quae  vel  maxima  est  impietas ;  ad  vitam  enim  Deus 
inspirat  animas,  non  ad  mortem .  .  .  Tam  igitur  nefarium  est  exponere,  quam 
necare.  At  enim  parricidae  facultatum  angustias  conqueruntur,  nee  se  pluribug 
liberis  educandis  sufficere  posse  praetendunt ;  qua.si  vero  aut  facultates  in  potestate 
sint  possidentium,  aut  non  quotidie  Deus  ex  divitibus  pauperes,  et  ex  pauperibus 
pauperes  faciat.  Quare  si  quis  liberos  ob  pauperiem  non  poterit  educare,  satius  est, 
ut  se  ab  uxoris  congressione  contineat,  quam  sceleratis  manibus  Dei  opera  cor 
rumpat. 


336  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

Trajan,  began  to  direct  their  attention  to  the  diminution  of  these 
crjing  evils,  but  the  best  legal  enactments  would  never  have 
been  able  to  eradicate  them  without  the  spiritual  influence  of 
the  church. 

§  92.  Brotherly  Love^  and  Love  for  Enemies. 

Comp.  in  part  Schaubach  :  Das  Verhaltniss  der  Moral  des  classischen  Alter- 
thums  zur  christlichen,  beleuchtet  durcli  vergleichende  Erurtening  der 
Lehre  von  der  Feindesliehe,  in  the  "  Studien  und  Kritiken"  for  1851, 
p.  59-121.     Also  the  works  of  Schmidt  and  Chastel,  quoted  at  §  8G. 

It  is  generally  admitted,  that  selfishness  was  the  soul  of 
heathen  morality.  The  great  men  of  antiquity  rose  indeed  above 
its  sordid  forms,  love  of  gain  and  of  pleasure,  but  were  the  more 
under  the  power  of  ambition  and  love  of  fame.  It  was  for  fame 
that  Miltiades  and  Themistocles  fought  against  the  Persians ;  that 
Alexander  set  out  on  his  tour  of  conquest ;  that  Herodotus  wrote 
his  history,  that  Pindar  sang  his  odes,  that  Sophocles  composed 
his  tragedies,  that  Demosthenes  delivered  his  orations,  that 
Phidias  sculptured  his  Zeus.  Fame  was  set  forth  in  the 
Olympian  games  as  the  highest  object  of  life ;  fame  is  held  up 
by  Aeschylus  as  the  last  comfort  of  the  suffering ;  fame  was 
declared  by  Cicero,^  before  a  large  assembly,  the  ruling  passion 
of  the  very  best  of  men.  Even  the  much  lauded  patriotism  of 
the  heroes  of  ancient  Greece  and  Kome  was  only  an  enlarged 
egotism.  In  the  catalogue  of  classical  virtues  we  look  in  vain 
for  the  two  fundamental  and  cardinal  virtues,  love  and  humility. 
The  very  word  which  corresponds  in  Greek  to  humility,^  sig- 
nifies generally,  in  classical  usage,  a  mean,  abject  mind.  The 
highest  and  purest  form  of  love  known  to  the  heathen  moralist 
is  friendship,  which  Cicero  praises  as  the  highest  good  next  to 
wisdom.  But  friendship  itself  rested,  as  was  freely  admitted,  on 
a  utilitarian,  that  is,  on  an  egotistic  basis,  and  was  only  })ossiblc 
among  persons  of  equal  or  similar  rank  in  society.     For  the 

'  Pro  Arcliia  poeta,  c.  11.  Traliimur  omncs  laudis  studio,  ot  optimus  quisquo 
maxime  gloria  ducitur. 


§    92.      BROTHERLY   LOVE,    AND   LOVE   FOR   ENEMIES.      837 

stranger,  the  barbarian,  and  the  enemj,  the  Greek  and  Eoman 
knew  no  love,  but  only  contempt  and  hatred.  The  jus  talionis, 
the  return  of  evil  for  evil,  was  universally  acknowledged 
throughout  the  heathen  world  as  a  just  principle  and  maxim,  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  plainest  injunctions  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment.^ We  must  offend  those,  who  offend  us,  says  Aeschylus.^ 
Not  to  take  revenge  was  regarded  as  a  sign  of  weakness  and 
cowardice. 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  we  should  suppose  that  every 
Christian  virtue  must  find  some  basis  in  the  noblest  moral 
instincts  and  aspirations  of  nature ;  since  Christianitv  is  not 
against  nature,  but  simply  above  it  and  intended  for  it.  Thus 
we  may  regard  the  humanity  and  magnanimity  which  we  meet 
with  occasionally  in  heathen  antiquity,  as  an  approximation  to,, 
and  preparation  for,  the  Christian  virtue  of  charity.  It  must  be 
admitted,  that  the  better  schools  of  moralists  rose  more  or  less- 
above  the  popular  approval  of  hatred  of  the  enemy,  wrath,  and. 
revenge.  Aristotle  and  the  Per'ipatetics,  without  condemning 
this  passion  as  wrong  in  itself,  enjoined  at  least  moderation  in  its 
exercise.  The  Stoics  went  further,  and  required  complete  apathy 
or  suppression  of  all  strong  and  passionate  affections.  Cicero 
even  declares  placability  and  clemency  one  of  the  noblest  traits 
in  the  character  of  a  great  man,^  and  praises  Caesar  for  forgetting 
nothing  except  injuries.  Seneca,  Plutarch,  and  Marcus  Aurelius,. 
who,  however,  were  already  indirectly  and  unconsciously  under. 
the  influence  of  the  atmosphere  of  Christian  morality,  decidedly 
condemn  anger  and  vindictiveness,  and  recommend  kindness 
to  slaves,  and  a  generous  treatment  even  of  enemies. 

But  this  sort  of  love  for  an  enemy,  it  should  be  remembered, 
in  the  first  place,    does  not  flow  naturally   from    the    spirit 

1  Matt.  V.  23,  24,  44;  vi.  12:  xviii.  21.  Rom.  xii.  17,  19,  20.  1  Cor.  xiii.  T. 
1  Thess.  V.  15.     1  Pet.  iii.  9. 

"  Prom.  Vinct.  v.  1005,  comp.  1040.  Many  passages  of  similar  import  from 
Homer,  Hesiod,  Sophocles,  Euripides,  etc. ;  see  quoted  on  p.  81  sqq.  of  the  article 
of  Schaubach  referred  to  above. 

'  De  Offic.  L  25:  Nihil  eiiim  laudabilius,  nihil  magno  et  praeclaro  viro  dignius 
placabilitate  et  dementia. 

22 


888  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

of  heathenism,  but  is,  as  it  were,  an  accident  and  exception ; 
secondly,  it  is  not  enjoined  as  a  general  duty,  but  expected  only 
from  the  great  and  the  wise ;  thirdly,  it  does  not  rise  above  the 
conception  of  magnanimity,  which,  more  closely  considered,  is 
itself  connected  with  a  refined  form  of  egotism,  and  with  a  noble 
pride  that  regards  it  below  the  dignity  of  a  gentleman  to  notice 
the  malice  of  inferior  men  ;^  fourthly,  it  is  commended  only  in 
its  negative  aspect  as  refraining  from  the  right  of  retaliation,  not 
as  active  benevolence  and  charity  to  the  enemy,  which  returns 
good  for  evil ;  and  finally,  it  is  nowhere  derived  from  a  reli- 
gious principle,  the  love  of  God  to  man,  and  therefore  has  no 
proper  root,  and  lacks  the  animating  soul. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  in  spite  of  the  finest  maxims  of  a  few 
philosophers,  the  imperial  age  was  controlled  by  the  coldest 
selfishness,  so  that,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Plutarch, 
friendship  had  died  out  even  in  families,  and  the  love  of 
brothers  and  sisters  was  supposed  to  be  possible  only  in  a  heroic 
age  long  passed  by. 

It  was  in  such  an  age  of  universal  egotism  that  Christianity 
first  revealed  the  true  spirit  of  love  to  man  as  flowing  from  the 
love  of  God,  and  exhibited  it  in  actual  life.  This  cardinal 
virtue  we  meet  first  within  the  Church  itself,  as  the  bond  of 
union  among  believers,  and  the  sure  mark  of  the  genuine  disciple 
of  Jesus.  "  That  especially,"  says  Tertullian  to  the  heathen, 
in  a  celebrated  passage  of  his  Apologeticus,  "  which  love 
works  among  us,  exposes  us  to  many  a  suspicion.  '  Behold,' 
they  say,  '  how  they  love  one  another  !'  Yea,  verily  this  must 
strike  them ;  for  they  hate  each  other.  '  And  how  ready  they 
are  to  die  for  one  another!'  Yea,  truly;  for  they  are  rather 
ready  to  kill  one  another.  And  even  that  we  call  each  other 
brethren,  seems  to  them  suspicious  for  no  other  reason,  than  that 
among  them  all  expressions  of  kindred  are  only  feigned.  We 
are  even  your  brethren,  in  virtue  of  the  common  nature,  which 
is  the  mother  of  us  all ;  though  ye,  as  evil  brethren,  deny  your 

'  Comp.  Seneca,  De  ira  II.  32  :  Magui  nniini  est  injurias  despiccre. — Illc  ina_c:nus 
et  nobilis  est,  qui  more  magnae  ferae  latratus  minutonim  canum  securus  cxaudit. 


§  92.   BROTHERLY  LOvE,  AND  LOVE  FOR  ENEMIES.   339 

human  nature.  But  how  much  more  justly  are  those  called  and 
considered  brethren,  who  acknowledge  the  one  God  as  their 
Father ;  who  have  received  the  one  Spirit  of  holiness ;  who 
have  awaked  from  the  same  darkness  of  uncertainty  to  the  light 
of  the  same  truth  ?  .  .  .  And  we,  who  are  united  in  spirit  and  in 
soul,  do  not  hesitate  to  have  also  all  things  common,  except 
wives.  For  we  break  fellowship  just  where  other  men  practise 
it." 

This  brotherly  love  flowed  from  community  of  life  in  Christ. 
Hence  Ignatius  calls  believers  "  Christ-bearers"  and  "  God- 
bearers."^  The  article  of  the  Apostles'  Creed:  "I  believe  in 
the  communion  of  saints ;"  the  current  appellation  of  "  brother" 
and  "  sister  ;"  and  the  fraternal  kiss  usual  on  admission  into  the 
church,  and  at  the  Lord's  supper, — were  not  mere  empty  forms, 
nor  even  a  sickly  sentimentalism,  but  the  expression  of  true 
feeling  and  experience,  only  strengthened  by  the  common 
danger  and  persecution.  A  travelling  Christian,  of  whatever 
language  or  country,  with  a  letter  of  recommendation  from  his 
bishop,^  was  everywhere  hospitably  received  as  a  long  known 
friend.  It  was  a  current  phrase :  In  thy  brother  thou  hast  seen 
the  Lord  himself  The  force  of  love  reached  beyond  the  grave. 
Families  were  accustomed  to  celebrate  at  appointed  times  the 
memory  of  their  departed  members ;  and  this  was  one  of  the 
grounds  on  which  Tertullian  opposed  second  marriage. 

This  brotherly  love  expressed  itself,  above  all,  in  the  most 
self-sacrificing  beneficence  to  the  poor  and  sick,  to  widows  and 
orphans,  to  strangers  and  prisoners,  particularly  to  confessors  in 
bonds.  It  magnifies  this  virtue  in  our  view,  to  reflect,  that  the 
Christians  at  that  time  belonged  mostly  to  the  lower  classes,  and 
in  times  of  persecution-  often  lost  all  their  possessions.  Every 
congregation  was  a  charitable  society,  and  in  its  public  worship 
took  regular  collections  for  its  needy  members.  To  these  were 
added  numberless  private  charities,  given  in  secret,  which  eter- 

Xpi(TTO(|i)(5ooi,  Sco<p6poi. 

^  Fpa/iftaTa  TeTvitMfiiva  or  KoiviaviKa ;  epistolae  or  literae  formatae;  so  called,  because 
composed  after  a  certain  tuttoj  or  forma,  to  guard  against  frequent  forgeries. 


840  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D,   100-811. 

nity  alone  will  reveal.  The  chureli  at  Rome  had  under  its  care 
a  great  multitude  of  widows,  orphans,  blind,  lame,  and  sick,^ 
whom  the  deacon  Laurentius,  in  the  Dccian  persecution,  showed 
to  the  heathen  prefect,  as  the  most  precious  treasures  of  the 
church.  It  belonged  to  the  idea  of  a  Christian  housewife,  and 
was  particularly  the  duty  of  the  deaconesses,  to  visit  the  Lord,  to 
clothe  him,  and  give  him  meat  and  drink,  in  the  persons  of  his 
needy  disciples.  Even  such  opponents  of  Christianity  as  Lucian, 
testify  to  this  zeal  of  the  Christians  in  labors  of  love,  though 
they  see  in  it  nothing  but  an  innocent  fanaticism.  "It  is  in- 
credible," says  Lucian,^  "  to  see  the  ardor  with  which  the  people 
of  that  religion  help  each  other  in  their  wants.  They  spare 
nothing.  Their  first  legislator  has  put  into  their  heads  that  they 
are  all  brethren."  This  beneficence  reached  beyond  immediate 
neighborhood.  In  cases  of  general  distress  the  bishops  ap- 
pointed special  collections,  and  also  fasts,  by  which  food  might 
be  saved  for  suffering  brethren.  The  Roman  church  sent  its 
charities  great  distances  abroad.^  Cyprian  of  Carthage,  who, 
after  his  conversion,  sold  his  own  estates  for  the  benefit  of  the 
poor,  collected  a  hundred  thousand  sestertia,  or  more  than 
three  thousand  dollars,  to  redeem  Christians  of  Numidia,  who 
had  been  taken  captive  by  neighboring  barbarians ;  and  he 
considered  it  a  high  privilege,  "  to  be  able  to  ransom  for  a 
small  sum  of  money  him,  who  has  redeemed  us  from  the 
dominion  of  Satan  with  his  own  blood."  A  fiither,  who  refused 
to  give  alms  on  account  of  his  children,  Cyprian  charged  with 
the  additional  sin  of  binding  his  children  to  an  earthly  inherit- 
ance, instead  of  pointing  them  to  the  richest  and  most  loving 
Father  in  heaven. 

Finally,  this  brotherly  love  expanded  to  love  even  for  ene- 
mies, which  returned  the  heathens  good  for  evil,  and  not  rarely, 
in  persecutions  and  public  misfortunes,  heaped  coals  of  fire  on 
their  heads.  During  the  persecution  under  Gallus  (252),  when 
the  pestilence  raged  in  Carthage,  and  the  heathens  threw  out  their 

1  Cornelius,  in  Euaeb.  II.  E.  VI.  43.  '  Dc  mortc  Percgr.  a  13. 

•  Diouysiua  of  Coriuth,  in  Eus.  IV.  23. 


§    93.      TREATMENT   OF   THE    DEAD.  341 

dead  and  sick  upon  the  streets,  ran  away  from  them  for  fear  of 
the  contagion,  and  cursed  the  Christians  as  the  supposed  authors 
of  the  plague,  Cyprian  assembled  his  congregation,  and  exhorted 
them  to  love  their  enemies ;  whereupon  all  went  to  work ;  the 
rich  with  their  money,  the  poor  with  their  hands,  and  rested 
not,  till  the  dead  were  buried,  the  sick  cared  for,  and  the  city 
saved  from  desolation.  The  same  self-denial  appeared  in  the 
Christians  of  Alexandria  during  a  ravaging  plague  under  the 
reign  of  Gallienus.  These  are  only  a  few  prominent  manifesta- 
tions of  a  spirit  which  may  be  traced  through  the  whole  history 
of  martyrdom  and  the  daily  prayers  of  the  Christians  for  their 
enemies  and  persecutors.  For  while  the  love  of  friends,  says 
Tertullian,  is  common  to  all  men,  the  love  of  enemies  is  a  virtue 
peculiar  to  Christians.^  "  You  forget,"  he  says  to  the  heathens 
in  his  Apology,  "  that,  notwithstanding  your  persecutions,  far 
from  conspiring  against  j'ou,  as  our  numbers  would  perhaps 
furnish  us  with  the  means  of  doing,  we  pray  for  you  and  do  good 
to  you ;  that,  if  we  give  nothing  for  your  gods,  we  do  give  for 
your  poor,  and  that  our  charity  spreads  more  alms  in  your 
streets  than  the  offerings  presented  by  your  religion  in  your 
temples." 

§  93.   Treatment  of  (he  Dead.     The  Church  in  the  Catacombs. 

Comp.  the  large  illustrated  works  of  Bottari,  D'Agincourt,  Marchi,  Rostell, 
on  the  Catacombs  of  Rome,  especially  Louis  Ferret  :  Catacombes  de 
Rome ;  architecture,  peintures  murales,  inscriptions,  figures  et  symboles 
des  pierres  sepulcrales,  verres  graves  sur  fonds  d'or,  lampes,  vases,  anneaux, 
instruments,  etc.,  des  cimetieres  des  premiers  Chretiens;  etc.  Par.  1853, 
sqq.  5  vols,  (containing  325  plates).  Bellermann  :  Ueber  die  altesten 
christlichen  Begrabnissstatten  u.  die  Katakomben  zu  Neapel.  Hamb.  1839. 
Charles  Maitland  (M.D.)  :  The  Church  in  the  Catacombs,  or  a  Descrip- 
tion of  the  Prim.  Church  of  Rome,  illustrated  by  its  Sepulchral  Remains. 
Lond.  2d  ed.  1847.  Card.  Wiseman  :  Fabiola,  or  the  Church  of  the  Cata- 
combs.  Lond.  1855.    (A  historical  romance.)    W.  T.  Kip  :  The  Catacombs 

'  Ad  Scapiilam  c.  1 :  Ita  enim  disciplina  jubemur  diligere  inimicos  quoque  et 
orare  pro  lis  qui  nos  persequuntur,  ut  haec  sit  perfecta  et  propria  bonitas  nostra, -non 
communis.  Amicos  enim  diligere  omnium  est,  inimicos  autem  solorum  Christiano- 
rum. 


342  SECOND   PERIOD,    A.D.    100-311. 

of  Rome,  as  illustr.  the  Church  of  the  first  three  centuries.  N.  York,  1854. 
J.  S.  NoRTHcoTE  (R.  C.) :  The  Roman  Catacombs.  Lond.  1857.  Piper  : 
Die  Grabinschriften  der  iiltesten  Christen,  and  other  archaeological  articles 
in  the  "  Evang.  Kalender"  for  1855,  p.  28  sqq. ;  1857,  p.  37  sqq.,  &c. 

The  early  clmrch  took  a  cheerful  view  of  death,  and  con- 
sidered it,  after  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  as  a  peaceful,  hopeful 
slumber.  The  day  of  a  believer's  death,  especially  if  he  were  a 
martyr,  was  called  the  day  of  his  heavenly  birth.  His  grave 
was  surrounded  with  symbols  of  hope  and  of  victory  ;  anchors, 
harps,  palms,  crowns.  The  primitive  Christians  always  showed 
a  tender  care  for  the  dead ;  under  a  vivid  impression  of  the 
unbroken  communion  of  saints  and  the  future  resurrection  of 
the  body  in  glory.  For  Christianity  redeems  the  body  as  well 
as  the  soul,  and  consecrates  it  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Hence  the  Greek  and  Koman  custom  of  burning  the  corpse  was 
repugnant  to  Christian  feeling.  Tertullian  even  declared  it  a 
symbol  of  the  fire  of  hell.  In  its  stead  the  church  adopted  the 
primitive  Jewish  usage,  practised  also  by  the  Egyptians  and  Ba- 
bylonians, of  burial  ;^  but  they  discarded  lamentation?,  rending 
of  clothes,  and  all  signs  of  extravagant  grief.  The  bodies  of  the 
dead  were  washed,^  wrapped  in  linen  cloths,^  sometimes  embalm- 
ed,* and  then,  in  the  presence  of  ministers,  relatives,  and  friends, 
with  prayer  and  singing  of  psalms,  committed  as  seeds  of  im- 
mortality to  the  genial  bosom  of  the  earth.  Funeral  discourses 
were  very  common  as  early  as  the  Nicene  period.  But  in  the 
times  of  persecution  the  interment  was  often  necessarily  per- 
formed as  hastily  and  secretly  as  possible.  The  death-days  of 
martyrs  the  church  celebrated  annually  at  their  graves,  with 
oblations,  love-feasts,  and  the  Lord's  supper.  Families  likewise 
commemorated  their  departed  members  in  the  domestic  circle. 
The  current  prayers  for  the  dead  were  originally  only  thanks- 
givings for  the  grace  of  God  manifested  to  them.  But  they 
afterwards  passed  into  intercessions,  without  any  warrant  in  the 

'  Comp.  Gen.  xxiii.  19.    Matt,  xxvii.  00.    Jiio.  xi.  17.    Acts  v.  fi ;  viii.  2. 
»  Acts  ix.  37.  '  Matt,  xxvii.  59.    Luko  xxiii.  53.    Juo.  xi.  44. 

*  Jno.  xLx.  39  sq. ;  xii.  7. 


§    93.      TREATMENT   OF   THE   DEAD,  843 

teacliing  of  the  apostles,  and  in  connexion  witli  questionable 
views  in  regard  to  the  intermediate  state.  Tertullian,  for  in- 
stance, in  his  argument  against  second  marriage,  says  of  the 
Christian  widow,  she  prays  for  the  soul  of  her  departed  husband,^ 
and  brings  her  annual  offering  on  the  day  of  his  departure. 

The  same  feeling  of  the  inseparable  communion  of  saints  gave 
rise  to  the  usage,  unknown  to  the  heathens,  of  consecrated  places 
of  common  burial.^  For  these  cemeteries,  the  Christians,  in  the 
times  of  persecution,  when  they  were  mostly  poor  and  enjoyed 
no  corporate  rights,  selected  remote,  secret  spots,  such  as  waste 
fields,  caves,  and  especially  subterranean  vaults,  called  at  first 
crypts,^  but  after  the  sixth  century  commonly  termed  catacombs, 
or  resting-places.* 

The  catacombs  were  originally  sand-pits  and  quarries,  whence 
building  materials  were  taken.  Into  these  excavations,  when 
abandoned,  the  heathens  frequently  cast  the  corpses  of  slaves  and 
convicts.  The  Christians  used  them  as  places  of  refuge,  cha- 
pels, and  tombs,  and  converted  these  dark  and  cheerless  passages 
into  sacred  rooms,  where,  especially  on  the  festivals  of  the  mar- 
tyrs, they  held  their  most  solemn  worship,  and  amidst  the 
shadows  of  death  felt  the  breath  of  the  resurrection  and  the  life 
everlasting.  The  flourishing  period  of  the  catacomb-worship, 
however,  began  only  with  the  increased  reverence  for  saints, 
after  Constantine,  and  continued  till  the  eighth  century,  when 
the  remains  of  the  martyrs  began  to  be  deposited  in  the  churches 
for  more  convenient  worship ;  though  long  after  this  also,  when 
the  catacombs  were  again  opened,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
individual  saints  of  the  Roman  church,  like  Philip  Neri  and 
Charles  Borromeo,  spent  whole  nights  praying  amid  these 
venerable  scenes  of  the  triumphs  of  the  early  church.  Jerome 
relates,^  how,  while  a  school-boy,  about  the  middle  of  the  fourth 
century,  he  used  to  go  with  his  companions  on  Sundays  to  the 
graves   of  the   apostles   and  martyrs  in   the  crypts  at  Rome, 

1  Pro  animaejus  orat.  '  Koi^nr/'jpia,  cimeteria,  dormitoria,  areae. 

*  Kpirrnit,  also  aronariae.  *  KaraHiijPtov,  catatumba,  catacumba. 

'  Conmi.  in  Eze'.v.  40. 


344  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

"where  in  subterranean  depths  the  visitor  passes  to  and  fro 
between  the  bodies  of  the  entombed  on  both  walls,  and  where 
all  is  so  dark,  that  the  prophecy  here  finds  its  fulfilment :  The 
living  go  down  into  hcll.^  Here  and  there  a  ray  from  above, 
not  falling  in  through  a  window,  but  only  pressing  in  through  a 
crevice,  softens  the  gloom ;  as  you  go  onward,  it  fades  away,  and 
in  the  darkness  of  night  which  surrounds  you,  that  verse  of 
Virgil  comes  to  your  mind : 

"  Ilorror  ubique  animos,  simul  ipsa  silentia  terrent." 

And  the  poet  Prudentius  also,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, several  times  speaks  of  these  burial-places,  and.  the  devo- 
tions held  within  them. 

These  catacombs  are  found  to  this  day  in  the  vicinity  of 
several  Italian  cities,  Sjrracuse  and  Naples,  and  especially  under 
the  basilicas  of  St.  Lorenzo,  St.  Agnes,  and  St.  Sebastian  in 
Rome,  and  from  the  sixteenth  century  they  have  been  a  field  of 
antiquarian  research.  The  most  renowned  of  all  is  the  one 
under  St.  Sebastian,  which  pope  Calixtus  (219-224)  caused  to 
be  enlarged  and  ornamented,  and  where  the  bones  of  Peter  and 
Paul,  of  forty-six  bishops  of  Rome,  and  of  an  incredible  number 
— the  inscription  on  the  entrance  says  a  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  thousand ! — of  martyrs,  are  said  to  repose.  The  niches  are 
hewn  out  like  shelves  in  the  perpendicular  walls,  and  closed 
with  a  slab  of  marble  or  tile.  Sometimes  they  form  several 
tiers ;  in  the  upper  story  of  the  crypt  of  Calixtus,  even  eight  and 
ten.  The  more  wealthy  were  laid  in  sarcophagi.  The  larger 
rooms  are  arranged  as  chapels  for  worship,  with  a  simple  altar, 
and  a  bishops'  chair  hewn  out  of  the  tufa.  Articles  of  ornament, 
rings  and  sculptures,  playthings  in  the  case  of  children,  were 
inclosed  with  the  dead ;  even  rare  coins  and  all  kinds  of  tools, 
also  lamps  of  clay  (terracotta),  metal,  or  glass,  carved  with  the 
monogram  of  Christ,  or  other  Christian  symbols.     A  great  num- 

'  Num.  xvi.  33,  and  Ps.  Iv.  16. 


§   94.      ASCETICISM.  345 

ber  of  flasks  and  cups  also,  with  or  without  ornamentation,  are 
found,  mostly  outside  of  the  graves  and  fastened  to  the  grave- 
lids.  These  were  formerly  supposed  to  have  been  receptacles 
for  tears,  or,  from  the  red,  dried  sediment  in  them,  for  the  blood 
of  martyrs.  But  later  archaeologists  consider  them  drinking 
vessels  used  in  the  agapae  and  oblations  in  the  crypts.  On 
opening  the  graves  the  skeleton  appears  frequently  even  now 
very  well  preserved,  sometimes  in  dazzling  whiteness,  as  covered 
with  a  glistening  glory ;  but  falls  into  dust  at  the  touch. 

The  inscriptions  are  interesting  and  characteristic,  traced  in 
red  or  black  uncial  letters  on  the  grave-lids  and  the  sarcophagi, 
often  in  bad  Latin,  faulty  orthography,  and  in  their  simplicity 
strongly  contrasting  with  the  inscriptions  of  distinguished 
heathen  Romans  or  the  magnificence  of  modern  Christian  Rome. 
The}^  are  collected  in  large  numbers  in  the  "Vatican  and  the 
lately  founded  Lateran  museums  in  Rome,  and  some  in  the 
Christian  museum  at  Berlin.  The  oldest  give,  for  the  most  part, 
only  the  name  of  the  deceased  and  his  nearest  kindred,  or  the 
name,  with  the  age,  and  a  short  word  of  Christian  love  and 
hope:  "In  peace;"  "Deposited;"  "He  sleeps;"^  "He  rests 
well;"  "Live  in  God;"  "Be  received  into  Christ;"  "God 
quicken  thy  spirit ;"  "  Weep  not,  my  child ;  death  is  not  eter- 
nal." Almost  uniformly  the  Constantinian  monogram  of  Christ, 
3^'  °^  a"X"")  stands  upon  the  grave-stones,  as  well  as  the  sym- 
bolical signs  of  the  cross,  the  ship,  the  dove  with  the  olive- 
branch,  the  anchor,  the  palm;^  and  often  also  hammers,  pincers, 
spears,  and  other  instruments  of  torture.  The  sarcophagi,  which 
came  into  more  general  use  after  Constantine,  as  also  the  lids 
and  walls,  are  richly  ornamented  with  scenes  from  Bible  history 
and  Christian  tradition,  and  show  us  the  beginnings  of  Christian 
painting  and  sculpture.  The  most  beautifal  piece  of  ancient 
Christian  sculpture  is  the  sarcophagus  of  Junius  Bassus,  a  prefect 
of  Rome,  who  died  soon  after  his  baptism  in  359. 


Domitiuf,  or  Florentinus,  or  Yictorina  dormit — dormit  in  pace — in  pace  Domini. 
Comp.  §  99. 


346  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 


§  94.  Asceticism. 

MoHLER  (R.  C.) ;  Geschichte  des  Monelithums  in  der  Zeit  seiner  ersten 
Entstehung  u.  ersten  Ausbildung,  183G  (Vermischte  Schrif'ten,  ed.  D61- 
linger,  Regensb.  1839.  II.  p.  165  sqq.).  Is.  Taylor:  Ancient  Chris- 
tianity, 4th  ed.  London,  1844,  I.  133-299  (anti-Puseyite  and  anti-Ca- 
tholic). H.  RuFFNER  (Presbyt.) :  The  Fathers  of  the  Desert ;  or  an 
Account  of  the  Origin  and  Practice  of  Monkery  among  heathen  nations; 
its  passage  into  the  church ;  and  some  wonderful  Stories  of  the  Fathers 
concerning  the  primitive  Monks  and  Hermits.     N.  York,  1850.    2  vols. 

Here  we  enter  a  field  where  the  early  churcli  appears  most 
remote  from  the  free  spirit  of  evangelical  Protestantism,  and 
stands  nearest  the  legal  position  of  Greek  and  Eoman  Catholicism. 
Ilere  she  seems  already  to  regard  the  Christian  life  as  consisting 
mainly  in  certain  outward  exercises,  rather  than  an  inward  dis- 
position ;  and  she  makes  it  the  great  problem  of  virtue,  not  so 
much  to  transform  the  world  and  sanctify  the  natural  things 
and  relations  created  by  God,  as  to  flee  from  the  world  into 
monastic  seclusion,  and  voluntarily  renounce  property  and  mar- 
riage. The  Pauline  doctrine  of  faith  and  of  justification  by 
grace  alone,  steadily  retreats,  or  rather,  it  has  never  yet  been 
rightly  enthroned  in  the  general  thought  and  life  of  the  church. 
The  qualitative  view  of  morality  yields  more  and  more  to  quan- 
titative calculation  by  the  number  of  outward  meritorious  and 
even  supererogatory  works,  prayer,  fasting,  alms-giving,  volun- 
tary poverty,  and  celibacy.  This  necessarily  brings  with  it  a 
Judaizing  self-righteousness  and  over-estimate  of  the  ascetic  lite, 
which  developes,  by  an  irresistible  impulse,  into  the  hermit-life 
and  monasticism  of  the  Nicene  age.  All  the  germs*  of  this  asce- 
ticism appear  in  the  third  century. 

By  asceticism^  we  mean,  in  general,  a  rigid  outward  self-disci- 
pline, by  which  the  spirit  strives  after  full  dominion  over  the  flesh, 
and  a  superior  grade  of  virtue.     It  includes  not  only  that  true 

'  "AiKn"";,  from  dTKiot,  to  exercise,  to  strengthen ;  primarily  applied  to  athletic 
and  gymnastic  exercises,  but  used  also,  even  by  the  heathens  and  by  Philo,  of  moral 

Belf-discij)liue. 


§  94.      ASCETICISM.  ,  847 

moderation  and  restraint  of  the  animal  appetites,  whicli  is  a 
universal  Christian  duty,  but  total  abstinence  from  enjoyments 
in  themselves  lawful,  from  wine,  animal  food,  property,  and 
marriage,  together  with  all  kinds  of  penances  and  mortifications 
of  the  body.  In  the  union  of  the  abstractive  and  penitential 
elements,  or  of  self-denial  and  self-punishment,  the  catholic  asce- 
ticism stands  forth  complete  in  light  and  shade  ;  exhibiting,  on 
the  one  hand,  wonderful  examples  of  heroic  renunciation  of  self 
and  the  world,  but  very  often,  on  the  other,  a  total  misapprehen- 
sion and  perversion  of  Christian  morality ;  the  renunciation 
involving  more  or  less  a  Gnostic  contempt  of  the  gifts  and  ordi- 
nances of  the  God  of  nature,  and  the  penance  or  self-punishment 
running  into  practical  denial  of  the  all-sufficient  merits  of  Christ. 
The  ascetic  and  monastic  tendency  rests  primarily  upon  a  lively, 
though  for  the  most  part  morbid  sense  of  the  sinfulness  of  the 
flesh  and  the  irremediable  corruption  of  the  world ;  then  upon 
the  desire  for  undisturbed  solitude  and  exclusive  occupation  with 
divine  things ;  and  finally,  upon  a  certain  religious  ambition  to 
attain  extraordinary  holiness  and  merit.  It  would  anticipate 
the  life  of  angels^  upon  earth.  It  substitutes  an  abnormal,  self- 
appointed  virtue  and  piety  for  the  normal  forms  prescribed  by 
God;  and  not  rarely  looks  down  upon  the  divinely-ordained 
standard  with  spiritual  pride.  It  is  a  mark  at  once  of  moral 
strength  and  moral  weakness.  It  presumes  a  certain  degree  of 
culture,  in  which  man  has  emancipated  himself  from  the  powers 
of  nature  and  risen  to  the  consciousness  of  his  moral  calling ;  but 
thinks  to  secure  itself  against  temptation  only  by  entire  separa- 
tion from  the  world,  instead  of  standing  in  the  world  to  over- 
come it  and  transform  it  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Asceticism  is  by  no  means  limited  to  the  Christian  church, 
though  it  there  first  developed  its  highest  and  noblest  form.  We 
observe  kindred  phenomena  even  long  before  Christ ;  among  the 
Jews,  in  the  Nazarites,  the  Essenes,  and  the  cognate  Therapeutae ; 

'  Matt.  xxii.  30.  Hence  the  frequent  designation  of  monastic  life  as  a  vita 
angelica. 


348  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

and  still  more  among  the  heathens,  in  the  old  Persian  and  Indian 
religions,  especially  among  the  Buddhists.  Even  the  Grecian 
philosophy  was  conceived  by  the  Pythagoreans,  the  Platonists, 
and  the  Stoics,  not  as  theoretical  knowledge  merely,  but  also  as 
practical  wisdom,  and  frequently  joined  itself  to  the  most  rigid 
abstemiousness,  so  that  "philosopher"  and  "ascetic"  were  inter- 
changeable terms.  Most  of  the  apologists  of  the  second  century 
had  by  this  practical  philosophy,  particularly  the  Platonic,  been 
led  to  Christianity;  and  they  on  tliis  account  retained  their 
simple  dress  and  mode  of  life.  Tertulhan  congratulates  the 
philosopher's  cloak  on  having  now  become  the  garb  of  a  better 
philosophy.  In  the  show  of  self-denial  the  Cynics,  the  followers 
of  Diogenes,  went  to  the  extreme ;  but  these,  at  least  in  their 
later  degenerate  days,  concealed  under  the  guise  of  bodily  squalor, 
untrimmed  nails,  and  uncombed  hair,  a  vulgar  cynical  spirit, 
and  a  bitter  hatred  of  Christianity. 

In  the  ancient  church  there  was  a  special  class  of  Christians  of 
both  sexes,  who,  under  the  name  of  "ascetics"  or  " abstinents,"^ 
though  still  living  in  the  midst  of  the  community,  retired  from 
society,  voluntarily  renounced  marriage  and  property,  devoted 
themselves  wholly  to  fastings,  prayer,  and  religious  contemplation, 
and  strove  thereby  to  attain  Christian  perfection.  Sometimes 
they  formed  a  society  of  their  own,^  for  mutual  improvement,  an 
ecclesiola  in  ecclesia,  in  which  even  children  could  be  received 
and  trained  to  abstinence.  They  shared  with  the  confessors  the 
greatest  regard  from  their  fellow  Christians,  had  a  separate  seat 
in  the  pubhc  worship,  and  were  considered  the  fairest  ornaments 
of  the  church.  In  times  of  persecution  they  sought  with  enthu- 
siasm a  martyr's  death  as  the  crown  of  perfection.  While  as  yet 
each  congregation  was  a  lonely  oasis  in  the  desert  of  the  world's 
corruption,  and  stood  in  downright  opposition  to  the  surround- 
ing heathen  world,  these  ascetics  had  no  reason  for  separating 
from  it  and  flying  into  the  desert.  It  was  under  Constantine, 
and  partly  as   the   result  of  the  union  of  church  and  state,  the 

•  ^AiTKTtTal,  oontinentes ;  also  vao^ivoi,  virgines.  *  ' AvKJirfiptov, 


§  94.      ASCETICISM.  349 

consequent  transfer  of  tlie  world  into  the  church,  and  the  cessa- 
tion of  martyrdom,  that  asceticism  developed  itself  to  anchoretism 
and  monkery,  and  endeavored  thus  to  save  the  virgin  purity  of 
the  church  by  carrying  it  into  the  wilderness.  Yet  the  lives  of 
the  two  first  hermits,  Paul  of  Thebes  (f  340)  and  Anthony  of 
Egypt  (f  356),  fall  at  least  partly  in  the  period  before  us.  At 
the  time  of  Cyprian  ^  there  was  as  yet  no  absolutely  binding  vow. 
The  early  origin  and  wide  spread  of  this  ascetic  life  are  due  to 
the  deep  moral  earnestness  of  Christianity,  and  the  prevalence  of 
sin  in  all  the  social  relations  of  the  then  still  thoroughly  pagan 
world.  It  was  the  excessive  development  of  the  negative,  world- 
rejecting  element  in  Christianity,  which  must  precede  its  positive 
effort  to  transform  and  sanctify  the  world. 

The  ascetic  principle,  however,  was  not  confined,  in  its  influ- 
ence, to  the  proper  ascetics  and  monks.  It  ruled  more  or  less 
the  entire  morality  and  piety  of  the  ancient  and  mediaeval 
church ;  though,  on  the  other  hand,  there  were  never  wanting 
in  her  bosom  protests  of  the  free  evangelical  spirit  against  moral 
narrowness  and  excessive  regard  to  the  outward  works  of  the  law. 
The  ascetics  were  but  the  most  consistent  representatives  of  the 
old  catholic  piet}^,  and  were  commended  as  such  by  the  apologists 
to  the  heathens.  They  formed  the  spiritual  aristocracy,  the  full 
bloom  of  the  church,  and  served  especially  as  examples  to  the 
clergy. 

But  we  must  now  distinguish  two  different  kinds  of  asceticism 
in  Christian  antiquity  :  a  heretical  and  an  orthodox. 

The  heretical  asceticism,  the  beginnings  of  which  are  resisted 
in  the  New  Testament  itself,^  meets  us  in  the  Gnostic  and  Mani- 
chaean  sects.  It  is  descended  from  Oriental  and  Platonic  hea- 
thenism, and  is  based  on  a  dualistic  view  of  the  world,  a  confu- 
sion of  sin  with  matter,  and  a  perverted  idea  of  God  and  the 
creation.  It  places  God  and  the  world  at  irreconcilable  enmity, 
derives  the  creation  from  an  inferior  being,  considers  the  human 
body  substantially  evil,  a  product  of  the  devil  or  the  demiurge, 

'  Epist  LXII.  2  1  Tim.  iv.  3.    Col.  iL  16  sqq.    Comp  Kom.  xiv. 


350  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.J).    100-311. 

and  makes  it  the  great  moral  business  of  man  to  rid  himself  of 
the  same,  or  gradually  to  annihilate  it,  whether  by  excessive 
abstinence  or  by  unbridled  indulgence.  Many  of  the  Gnostics 
placed  the  fall  itself  in  the  first  gratification  of  the  sexual  desire, 
which  subjected  man  to  the  dominion  of  the  Hyle. 

The  orthodox  or  catholic  asceticism  proceeds  upon  Chris- 
tian views,  and  upon  a  literal  and  overstrained  construction  of 
certain  passages  of  scripture.  It  admits  that  all  nature  is  the 
work  of  God  and  the  object  of  his  love,  and  asserts  the  divine 
origin  and  destiny  of  the  human  body,  without  which  there 
could,  in  fact,  be  no  resurrection,  and  hence  no  admittance  to 
eternal  glory.  It  therefore  aims  not  to  mortify  the  body,  but 
perfectly  to  Control  and  sanctify  it.  For  the  metaphysical  dual- 
ism between  spirit  and  matter,  it  substitutes  the  ethical  conflict 
between  the  spirit  and  the  flesh.  But  in  practice  it  exceeds  the 
simple  and  sound  limits  of  the  Bible,  falsely  substitutes  the  bo- 
dily appetites  and  affections,  or  sensuous  nature,  as  such,  for  the 
flesh,  or  the  principle  of  selfishness,  which  resides  in  the  soul  as 
well  as  the  body ;  and  thus,  with  all  its  horror  of  heresy,  really 
joins  in  the  Gnostic  and  Manichaean  hatred  of  the  body  as  the 
prison  of  the  spirit.  This  comes  out  especially  in  the  deprecia- 
tion of  marriage  and  the  family  life,  that  divinely  appointed 
nursery  of  church  and  state,  and  in  excessive  self-inflictions,  to 
which  the  apostolic  piety  affords  not  the  remotest  parallel.  The 
heathen  Gnostic  principle  of  separation  from  the  world  and  from 
the  body^  as  a  means  of  self-redemption,  after  being  theoreti- 
cally exterminated,  stole  into  the  church  by  a  back  door  of  prac- 
tice, directly  in  face  of  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  high  destiny 
of  the  body  and  perfect  redemption  through  Christ. 

The  Alexandrian  fathers  first  furnished  a  theoretical  basis  for 
this  asceticism  in  the  distinction,  suggested  even  by  the  Pastor 
Hermae,^  of  a  lower  and  a  higher  morality ;  a  distinction,  which, 

'  Entweltlichung  and  Kntleiblicliung. 

'  SimiL  v.  3  (p.  492,  oil.  Drc?sel):  Si  nutcm  praeter  ca  quae  mandavit  Pominus 
nliquid  boni  adjeceris,  majorem  dignitatem  tibi  conquircs,  ct  bonoratior  apud  Domi- 
iiiim  eris,  quam  eras  t'uturus. 


§   95.      VOLUNTARY   POVERTY  AND   CELIBACY.  851 

like  that  introduced  at  the  same  period  by  Tertullian,  of  mortal 
and  venial  sins,^  gave  rise  to  many  practical  errors,  and  favored 
both  moral  laxity  and  ascetic  extravagance.  The  ascetics,  and 
afterwards"  the  monks,  formed  a  moral  nobility,  a  spiritual  aris- 
tocracy, above  the  common  Christian  people ;  as  the  clergy 
stood  in  a  separate  caste  of  inviolable  dignity  above  the  laity. 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  otherwise  remarkable  for  his  elevated 
ethical  views,  requires  of  the  Christian  sage  or  gnostic,  that  he 
excel  the  plain  Christian  not  only  by  higher  knowledge,  but 
also  by  higher,  emotionless  virtue,  and  stoical  superiority  to  all 
bodily  conditions ;  and  he  inclines  to  regard  the  body,  with 
Plato,  as  the  grave  and  fetter^  of  the  soul.  How  little  he  un- 
derstood the  Pauline  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  may  be 
inferred  from  a  passage  in  the  Stromata,  w^here  he  explains  the 
word  of  Christ :  "  Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee,"  as  referring,  not 
to  faith  simply  without  good  works,  but  to  the  Jews  only,  who 
lived  according  to  the  law ;  as  if  faith  was  something  to  be  add- 
ed to  the  good  works,  instead  of  being  the  source  and  principle 
of  the  holy  life.^  Origen^  goes  still  further,  and  propounds 
quite  distinctly  the  catholic  doctrine  of  works  of  supererogation,^ 
works  not  enjoined  indeed  in  the  gospel,  yet  recommended,^ 
which  were  supposed  to  establish  a  peculiar  merit  and  secure  a 

'  Peccata  irremissibilia  and  remissibilia,  or  mortalia  and  venialia. 

3  Strom.  VL  14,  108 :  'H  tiVtij  aov  ciaoKt  ct  (Marc.  V.  34),  oi!;^  otiAwj  tovs  hitw 

covv  irtarciovrns  aco^nasjOai  Xiyetn  airoi/  ixSf^d^e^a,  tui'  ftii  koi  ra  I'pya  enaKo^ov^fiat]'  avTt' 
KU  'luu^niois  /jovoti  Tavrriv  e\cyc  Tt]v  (fxovtjv  roii  vofiiKots  Kal  di'tTTiXiJTrtoj  ffePioiKoatv.  oJ;  nuvnv 

*  In  ep.  ad  Rom.  c.  iii.  ed.  de  la  Rue  iv.  p.  507  :  Donee  quis  hoc  tantum  facit,  quod 
debet,  i.  e.  quae  praecepta  sunt,  inutilis  servus.  Si  autem  adda^  aliquid  ad  praecep- 
tum,  tunc  non  jam  inutilis  servus  eris,  sed  dicetur  ad  te :  Euge  serve  bone  et  tidelis. 
Quid  autem  sit  quod  addatur  praeceptis  et  su2^ra  dehitum  fiat,  Paulus  ap.  dixit :  De 
virginibus  autem  praeceptum  Domini  non  habeo,  consilium  autem  do,  tamquam  mise- 
ricordiam  assecutus  a  Domino  (1  Cor.  vii.  25).  Hoc  opus  super  praeceptum  est.  Et 
iterum  praeceptum  est,  ut  hi  qui  evangelium  nunciant,  de  evangelic  vivant.  Paulus 
autem  dicit,  quia  nullo  horum  usus  sum  :  et  ideo  non  inutilis  erit  servus,  sed  fidelis 
et  prudens. 

*  Opera  supererogatoria. 

5  Matt.  xix.  21.  Luke  xxiv.  26.  1  Cor.  vii.  8  sq.  25.  Hence  consilia  evangelica, 
in  distinction  from  praecepta. 


852  SECOND   TERIOD.   A.U.    100-311. 

higher  degree  of  blessedness.  lie  who  does  only  what  is  re- 
quired of  all,  is  an  unprofitable  servant;'  but  he  who  does 
more,  who  performs,  for  example,  what  Paul,  in  1  Cor.  vii.  25, 
merely  recommends,  concerning  the  single  state,  or,  like  him, 
resigns  his  just  claim  to  temporal  remuneration  for  spiritual  ser- 
vice, is  called  a  good  and  faithful  servant.^  Among  these  works 
were  reckoned  martyrdom,^  voluntary  poverty,  and  voluntary 
celibacy.  All  three,  or  at  least  the  last  two  of  these  acts,  in 
connexion  with  the  positive  Christian  virtues,  belong  to  the  idea 
of  the  higher  perfection,  as  distinguished  from  the  fulfilment  of 
regular  duties,  or  ordinary  morality.  To  poverty  and  celibacy 
was  afterwards  added  absolute  obedience  ;  and  these  three  things 
were  the  main  subjects  of  the  consilia  evangelica  and  the  mo- 
nastic vow. 

§  95.    Voluntary  Poverty  and  Celibacy. 

The  ground  on  which  these  particular  virtues  were  so  strongly 
urged  is  easily  understood.  Proj)erty,  which  is  so  closely  allied 
to  the  selfishness  of  man  and  Ijinds  him  to  the  earth  ;  and  sex- 
ual intercourse,  which  brings  out  sensual  passion  in  its  greatest 
strength,  and  which  nature  herself  covers  with  the  veil  of  mo- 
desty ; — these  present  themselves  as  the  firmest  obstacles  to  that 
perfection,  in  which  God  alone  is  our  possession,  and  Christ 
alone  our  love  and  delight. 

In  these  things  the  ancient  heretics  went  to  the  extreme. 
The  Ebionites  made  poverty  the  condition  of  salvation.  The 
Gnostics,  as  already  remarked,  were  divided  between  the  two 
excesses  of  absolute  self-denial  and  unbridled  self-indulgence. 
The  Marcionites,  Carpocratians,  Prodicians,  false  Basilidians,  and 
Manichaeans  objected  to  individual  property,  from  hatred  to  the 
material  world;  and  Epiphanes,  in  a  book  "on  Justice"  about 
125,  defined  virtue  as  a  community  with  equality,  and  advocated 
the  community  of  goods  and  women.  The  more  earnest  of  these 
heretics  entirely  prohibited  marriage  and  procreation  as  a  dia- 

I  Luke  xvil  10.  «  Matt.  xxv.  21.  »  Comp.  §  53  and  59. 


§   95.      VOLUNTARY   POVERTY   AND   CELIBACY.  S53 

bolical  work,  as  in  the  case  of  Saturninus,  Marcion,  and  the 
Eucratites ;  while  other  Gnostic  sects  substituted  for  it  the  most 
shameless  promiscuous  intercourse,  as  in  Carpocrates,  Epiphanes, 
and  the  Nicolaitans. 

The  ancient  church,  on  the  contrary,  held  to  the  divine  insti- 
tution of  property  and  marriage,  and  was  content  to  recommend 
the  voluntary  renunciation  of  these  intrinsically  lawful  pleasures 
to  the  few  elect,  as  means  of  attaining  Christian  perfection.  She 
declared  marriage  holy,  virginity  more  holy.  But  unquestiona- 
bly even  the  church  fathers  so  exalted  the  higher  holiness  of  vir- 
ginity, as  practically  to  neutralize,  or  at  least  seriously  weaken, 
their  assertion  of  the  holiness  of  marriage.  The  Roman  church, 
in  spite  of  the  many  Bible  examples  of  married  men  of  God 
from  Abraham  to  Peter,  can  conceive  no  real  holiness  without 
celibacy,  and  therefore  requires  celibacy  of  its  clergy  without 
exception. 

The  recommendation  of  voluntary  poverty  was  based  on  a 
literal  interpretation  of  the  Lord's  advice  to  the  rich  young  ruler,, 
who  had  kept  all  the  commandments  from  his  youth  up  :  "  If 
thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  and  sell  that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the 
poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven  ;  and  come  and  fol- 
low me."^  To  this  were  added  the  actual  examples  of  the  poverty 
of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  the  community  of  goods  in  the 
first  Christian  church  at  Jerusalem.  Many  Christians,  not  of 
the  ascetics  only,  but  also  of  the  clergy,  like  Cyprian,  accord- 
ingly gave  up  all  their  projDerty  at  their  conversion,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  poor.  The  later  monastic  societies  sought  to  repre- 
sent in  their  community  of  goods  the  original  equality  and  the 
perfect  brotherhood  of  men.  Yet  on  the  other  hand,  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  for  example,  in  a  special  treatise  on  the  right  use 
of  wealth,^  observes,  that  the  Saviour  forbade  not  so  much  the 
possession  of  earthly  property,  as  the  love  of  it  and  desire  for  it ; 
and  that  it  is  possible  to  retain  the  latter,  even  though  the  pos- 
session itself  be  renounced.     The  earthly,  says  he,  is  a  mate- 

*  Matt.  Xix.  2L  "   Tij  h  o-wfo'^syoj  irAotio-iof, 

23 


854  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

rial  and  a  means  for  doing  good,  and  tlie  unequal  distribution 
of  property  is  a  divine  provision  for  the  exercise  of  Christian 
love  and  beneficence.  The  true  riches  are  the  virtue,  which  can 
and  should  iiKiiiitaiu  itself  under  all  outward  conditions;  the 
false  are  the  mere  outward  possession,  which  comes  and  goes. 

The  old  catholic  exaggeration  of  celibacy  attached  itself  to 
four  passages  of  scripture,  viz.  Matt.  xix.  12  ;  xxii.  30 ;  1  Cor. 
vii.  7  sqq. ;  and  Eev.  xiv.  4 ;  but  it  went  far  beyond  them,  and 
unconsciously  admitted  influences  from  foreign  modes  of  thought. 
The  words  of  the  Lord  in  Matt.  xxii.  30,  Luke  xx.  35  sq.,  were 
most  frequently  cited ;  but  they  expressly  limit  unmarried  life 
to  the  angels,  without  setting  it  up  as  the  model  for  men. 
Eev.  xiv.  4  was  taken  by  some  of  the  fathers  more  correctly  in 
the  symbolical  sense  of  freedom  from  the  pollution  of  idolatry. 
The  example  of  Christ,  though  often  urged,  cannot  here  furnish 
a  rule ;  for  the  Son  of  God  and  Saviour  of  the  world,  was  too 
far  above  all  the  daughters  of  Eve,  to  find  an  equal  companion 
among  them,  and  in  any  case  cannot  be  conceived  as  holding 
such  relations.  The  whole  church  of  the  redeemed  is  his  purs 
bride.  Of  the  apostles  some  at  least  were  married,  and  among 
them  Peter,  the  oldest  and  most  prominent  of  all.  The  advice 
of  Paul  in  1  Cor.  vii.  is  so  cautiously  given,  that  even  here  the 
view  of  the  flithers  found  but  partial  support ;  especially  if  ba- 
lanced with  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  where  monogamy  is  presented 
as  the  proper  condition  for  the  clergy.  Nevertheless  he  was 
frequently  made  the  apologist  of  celibacy  by  orthodox  and 
heretical  writers.^  Judaism — with  the  exception  of  the  pagan- 
izing Essenes,  who  abstained  from  marriage — highly  honors  the 
family  life ;  it  allows  marriage  even  to  the  priests  and  the  high- 
priests,  who  had  in  fact  to  maintain  their  order  by  physical 

'  Tluis,  for  example,  in  the  rather  worthless  apocryphal  Ada  PauH  et  Theclae, 
which  are  first  mentioned  by  Tcrtullian  (Do  baptismo  c.  17,  as  the  production  of  a 
certain  Asiatic  presbyter),  and  must  therefore  have  existed  in  the  second  century. 

There  Paul  is  made  to  say:  Mu^cnpioi  ol  eyKpurcTs,  on  airoTs  ^aX^iaei  h  ^ed;  .  .  i/aKoptot 
ol  eyovTC;  yvimtKai  iu{  /ifj  tvovrid  on  airoi  K^rjoot'oiifiaovai  t6v  ^i6v  .  .  .  ^laxnota  ra  adfia 
Til    Tciv    rrap^lvioi',  on  avra  ciapcoTfiaorxTtv  rw  Of^  Kut  nvK  dT'i^ionviriii  rni'  nia^dv  ti'k  ayvcini 

aiiTuv.     See  Tiflchendorf :  Acta  Apostolorum  Apocrypha.     Lipa  1851.     p.  42  sq. 


§    95.      VOLUNTARY   POVERTY   AND   CELIBACY.  355 

reproduction ;  it  considers  unfruitfolness  a  disgrace  or  a  curse. 
Heathenism,  on  the  contrary,  just  because  of  its  own  degrada- 
tion of  woman,  and  its  low,  sensual  conception  of  marriage,  fre- 
quently includes  celibacy  in  its  ideal  of  morality,  and  associates 
it  with  worship.  The  noblest  form  of  heathen  virginity  appears 
in  the  six  Vestal  virgins  in  Rome,  who,  while  girls  of  from  sis 
to  ten  years,  were  selected  for  the  service  of  the  pure  goddess, 
and  set  to  keep  the  holy  fire  burning  on  its  altar ;  but,  after 
serving  thirty  years,  were  allowed  to  return  to  secular  life  and 
marry» .  The  penalty  for  breaking  their  vow  of  chastity  was  to 
be  buried  alive  in  the  campus  sceleratus. 

The  ascetic  depreciation  of  marriage  is  thus  due,  at  least  in 
part,  to  the  influence  of  heathenism.  But  with  this  was  asso- 
ciated the  Christian  enthusiasm  for  angelic  purity  in  opposition 
to  the  horrible  licentiousness  of  the  Graeco-Roman  world.  It 
was  long  before  Christianity  raised  woman  and  the  family  life  to 
the  purity  and  dignity  which  became  them  in  the  kingdom  of 
God.  In  this  view  we  may  the  more  easily  account  for  many 
expressions  of  the  church  fathers  resjDecting  the  female  sex,  and 
warnings  against  intercourse  with  women,  which  to  us,  in  the 
present  state  of  European  and  American  civilization,  sound  per- 
fectly coarse  and  unchristian.  John  of  Damascus  has  collected 
in  his  Parallels  such  patristic  expressions  as  these:  "A  woman 
is  an  evil."  "  A  rich  woman  is  a  double  evil."  "  A  beautiful 
woman  is  a  whited  sepulcre."  "  Better  is  a  man's  wickedness 
than  a  woman's  goodness."  The  men  who  could  write  so,  must 
have  forgotten  the  beautiful  passages  to  the  contrary  in  the  pro- 
verbs of  Solomon  and  Sirach ;  they  must  have  forgotten  their 
own  mothers. 

The  excessive  regard  for  celibacy  and  the  accompanying  depre- 
ciation of  marriage  date  from  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
century,  and  reach  their  height  in  the  Nicene  age. 

Ignatius,  in  his  epistle  to  Polycarp,  expresses  himself  as  yet 
very  moderately :  "If  any  one  can  remain  in  chastity  of  the  flesh 
to  the  glory  of  the  Lord  of  the  flesh  (or,  according  to  another 
reading,  of  the  flesh  of  the  Lord),  let  him  remain  thus  without 


350  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-ull. 

boasting ;  ^  if  he  boast,  he  is  lost,  and  if  it  be  made  known,  be- 
yond the  bishop,^  he  is  ruined."  What  a  stride  from  this  to  the 
obUgatory  celibacy  of  the  clergy  I  Yet  the  admonition  leads  us 
to  suppose,  that  cehbacy  was  thus  early,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
second  century,  in  many  cases  boasted  of  as  meritorious,  and 
allowed  to  nourish  spiritual  pride,  Ignatius  is  the  first  to  call 
voluntary  virgins  brides  of  Christ  and  jewels  of  Christ, 

Justin  ]Martyr  goes  further.  He  points  to  many  Christians  of 
both  sexes  who  lived  to  a  great  age  unpolluted ;  and  he  desires 
celibacy  to  j^revail  to  the  greatest  possible  extent.  He  refers  to 
the  example  of  Christ,  and  expresses  the  singular  opinion,  that 
the  Lord  was  born  of  a  virgin  only  to  put  a  limit  to  sensual 
desire,  and  to  show  that  God  could  produce  without  the  sexual 
agency  of  man.  His  disciple  Tatian  ran  even  to  the  Gnostic 
extreme  upon  this  point,  and,  i)i  a  lost  work  on  Christian  perfec- 
tion, condemned  conjugal  cohabitation  as  a  fellowship  of  corrup- 
tion destructive  of  prayer.  At  the  same  period  Athenagoras 
wrote,  in  his  Apology:  "Many  may  be  found  among  us,  of 
both  sexes,  who  grow  old  unmarried,  full  of  hope  that  they  are 
in  this  way  more  closely  united  to  God." 

Clement  of  Alexandria  is  the  most  reasonable  of  all  the  fathers 
in  his  views  on  this  point.  He  considers  eunuchism  a  special 
gift  of  divine  grace,  but  without  yielding  it  on  this  account 
preference  above  the  married  state.  On  the  contrar}',  he  vindi- 
cates with  great  decision  the  moral  dignity  and  sanctity  of  mar- 
riage against  the  heretical  extravagances  of  his  time,  and  lays 
down  the  general  principle,  that  Christianity  stands  not  in  out- 
ward observances,. enjoyments,  and  privations,  but  in  righteous- 
ness and  peace  of  heart.  Of  the  Gnostics  he  says,  that,  under 
the  fair  name  of  abstinence,  they  act  impiously  towards  the 
creation  and  the  holy  Creator,  and  repudiate  marriage  and  pro- 


'  'Ev  aKavy^riaia  jicvctm. 

2  E'"ii'  yi".)rS,7  TrShv  Toi  lirtcrKdmv,  according  to  tlic  larger  Greek  recension,  c.  5,  witli 
wliicli  the  Syriac  (c.  2)  and  Armenian  versions  agree.  But  the  shorter  Greek  recen- 
sion reads  nXiny  for  irArji',  wliich  would  give  the  sense:  "  If  he  think  himself  (on  that 
account)  above  the  Cmarried)  bishop ;  si  inajorem  se  episcopo  censeat." 


§   95.      VOLUNTARY   POVERTY   AND   CELIBACY.  357 

creation  on  tlie  ground  that  a  man  should  not  introduce  others 
into  the  world  to  their  misery,  and  provide  new  nourishment  for 
death.  He  justly  charges  them  with  inconsistency  in  despising 
the  ordinances  of  God  and  yet  enjoying  the  nourishment  created 
by  the  same  hand,  breathing  his  air,  and  abiding  in  his  world. 
He  rejects  the  appeal  to  the  example  of  Christ,  because  Christ 
needed  no  help,  and  because  the  church  is  his  bride.  The  apos- 
tles also  he  cites  against  the  impugners  of  marriage.  Peter  and 
Philip  begot  children ;  Philip  gave  his  daughters  in  marriage ; 
and  even  Paul  hesitated  not  to  speak  of  a  female  companion 
(rather  only  of  his  right  to  lead  about  such  an  one,  as  well  as 
Peter).  We  seem  translated  into  an  entirely  different  Protestant 
atmosphere,  when  in  this  genial  writer  we  read :  The  perfect 
Christian,  who  has  the  apostles  for  his  patterns,  proves  himself 
truly  a  man  in  this,  that  ■- he  chooses  not  a  solitary  life,  but  mar- 
ries, begets  children,  cares  for  the  household,  yet  under  all  the 
temptations  which  his  care  for  wife  and  children,  domestics  and 
property  presents,  swerves  not  from  his  love  to  God,  and  as  a 
Christian  householder  exhibits  a  miniature  of  the  all-ruling 
Providence. 

But  how  little  such  views  agreed  with  the  spirit  of  that  age, 
we  see  in  Clement's  own  stoical  and  Platonizing  conception  of 
the  sensual  appetites,  and  still  more  in  his  great  disciple  Origen, 
who  voluntarily  disabled  himself  in  his  youth,  and  could  not 
think  of  the  act  of  generation  as  anything  but  polluting.  Hie- 
racas,  who  also  perhaps  belonged  to  the  Alexandrian  school,  is 
said  to  have  carried  his  asceticism  to  a  heretical  extreme,  and  to 
have  declared  virginity  a  condition  of  salvation.  Methodius  was 
an  opponent  of  the  spiritualistic,  but  not  of  the  ascetic  Origen, 
and  wrote  an  enthusiastic  plea  for  virginity,  founded  on  the  idea 
of  the  church  as  the  pure,  unspotted,  ever  young,  and  ever  beau- 
tiful bride  of  God.  Yet,  quite  remarkably,  in  his  "  Feast  of  the 
Ten  Virgins,"  the  virgins  express  themselves  respecting  the 
sexual  relations  with  a  minuteness  which,  to  our  modern  taste, 
is  extremely  indelicate  and  offensive. 

As  to  the  Latin  fiithers:    The  views  of  Tertullian  for  and 


358  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D,  .100-311. 

against  marriage,  particularly  against  second  marriage,  we  have 
already  noticed.'  His  disciple  Cyprian  diflfers  from  him  in  his 
ascetic  principles  only  by  greutcr  moderation  in  expression,  and, 
in  his  treatise  De  habitu  virginum,  commends  the  unmarried  life 
on  the  ground  of  Matt.  xix.  12,  1  Cor.  vii.,  and  Rev.  xiv.  4. 

Celibacy  was  most  common  witii  pious  virgins,  who  married 
themselves  only  to  God  or  to  Christ,^  and  in  the  spiritual  delights 
of  this  heavenly  union  found  abundant  compensation  for  the 
pleasures  of  earthly  matrimony.  But  cases  were  not  rare  where 
sensuality,  thiis  violently  suppressed,  asserted  itself  under  other 
forms ;  as,  for  example,  in  indolence  and  ease  at  the  expense  of 
the  church,  which  Tertullian  finds  it  necessary  to  censure ;  or  in 
the  vanity  and  love  of  dress,  which  Cyprian  rebukes ;  and,  worst 
of  all,  in  a  venture  of  asceticism,  which  probably  often  enough 
resulted  in  failure,  or  at  least  filled  the  imagination  with  impure 
thoughts.  Many  of  these  heavenly  brides^  lived  with  male 
ascetics,  and  especially  with  unmarried  clergymen,  under  pretext 
of  a  purely  spiritual  fellowship,  in  so  intimate  intercourse  as  to 
put  their  continence  to  the  most  perilous  test,  and  wantonly 
challenge  temptation,  from  which  we  should  rather  praj  to  be 
kept.  This  unnatural  and  shameless  jjractice  was  probably 
introduced  by  the  Gnostics ;  Irenaeus  at  least  charges  it  upon 
them.  The  first  trace  of  it  in  the  church  appears,  though  under 
a  rather  innocent  allegorical  form,  in  the  Pastor  Hermae,  which 
originated  from  the  Roman  church.*     It  is  next  mentioned  in  the 


>  See  §  91.  2  Nuptae  Deo,  Clmsto. 

3  'A^£>0ai',  sorores  (1  Cor.  ix.  5);  .afterwards  cleverly  called  ywaTKCi  (rvnirraKToi, 
mulieres  subintroductae,  extraneae. 

■I  Simil.  IX.  c.  11  (in  Drossel,  p.  G27).  The  virgines,  who  doubtless  symbolically 
represent  the  Christian  graces  (fldos,  abstinentia,  potestas,  patientia,  simplicitas, 
innocentia,  castitas,  hilaritas,  Veritas,  intelligentia,  concordia,  and  caritas,  comp.  c.  15), 
there  say  to  Hermaa,  when  he  proposes  an  evening  walk :  Oi)  Hvaoai  dip'  fifiwn  dva- 

yupnaai  ....  Mt5'  rjiioii-  tcatfin^n"^  <^f  dSc\<p6i,  xal  oi)(^  if  dvrip'  finircpo;  yap  die\(pdf  u' 
Kal   Tov  XotiToS  /itXXo^itv  /itra  cuv  KaroiKtiv,  \iav  yap  as  dyamoptv.     Then  tho  first  of  thcsO 

\\Tgm9,  fides,  comes  to  the  blushing  Hermas,  and  begins  to  kiss  him.  The  others  do 
the  same  ;  they  lead  him  to  the  tower  (symbol  of  the  church),  and  sport  with  him. 
"WTien  night  comes  on,  they  retire  together  to  rest,  with  singing  and  prayer;  «ui 

e/ieiva,  ho  continues,  per^  aiiTMii  rfiv  vixra  xai  iKotpi'j^ni'  irapa  rdv  rrvpyov,  'EffTptoo-Of  il  al 
irap^cvoi  Tovi  Xivovi  ^iToJvai   lavTciv   y_apai,  koX   ipl   dvUXivav  tli   rd   pcaov  airioi',  koI  ovilv 


§    96.      CELIBACY   OF   THE   CLERGY.  359 

Pseudo-Clementine  Epistles  ad  Virgines.  In  the  third  century 
it  prevailed  widely  in  the  East  and  West.  The  worldly-minded 
bishop  Paulus  of  Antioch,  favored  it  by  his  own  example. 
Cyprian  of  Carthage  came  out  earnestly,^  and  with  all  reason, 
against  the  vicious  practice,  in  spite  of  the  solemn  protestation 
of  innocence  by  these  sorores,  and  their  appeal  to  investigations 
through  midwives.  Several  councils,  at  Elvira,  Ancyra,  Nice, 
&c.,  felt  called  upon  to  forbid  this  pseudo-ascetic  scandal.  Yet 
the  intercourse  of  clergy  with  "mulieres  subintroductae "  rather 
increased  than  diminished  with  the  increasing  stringency  of  the 
celiljate  laws,  and  has  at  all  times  more  or  less  disgraced  the 
Eomish  priesthood. 

§  96.   Celibacy  of  the  Clergy. 

Comp.  J.  Ant.  &  Aug.  Theiner  (R.  C.)  ;  Die  Einfiihrimg  der  erzwungenen 
Ehelosigheit  bei  den  Geistiichen  u.  ikre  Folgen.    Oldenb.  1828,  2  vols. 

As  the  clergy  were  supposed  to  embody  the  moral  ideal  of 
Christianity,  and  to  be  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term  the  heritage 
of  God,^  they  were  required  to  practise  especially  rigid  sexual 
temperance  after  receiving  their  ordination.  The  virginitj^  of 
the  church  of  Christ,  who  was  himself  born  of  a  virgin,  seemed, 
in  the  ascetic  spirit  of  the  age,  to  demand  a  virgin  priesthood. 
In  the  present  period,  however,  this  celibacy  did  not  become  a 
matter  of  law,  but  was  left  optional,  like  the  vow  of  chastity 
among  the  laity.  In  the  Pastoral  Epistles  of  Paul  a  single  mar- 
riage, if  not  expressly  enjoined,  is  at  least  allowed  to  the  pres- 
byter-bishop, and  is  presumed  to  exist  as  the  rule.  The  first 
step  was  the  disapproval  of  second  marriage;  the  passages,  1  Tim. 
iii.  2  and  Tit.  i.  6,  being  taken  as  a  restriction,  and  as  prohibit- 
ing successive  polygamy.  Yet  so  late  as  the  beginning  of  the 
third  century,  there  were  many  clergymen  in  the  Catholic  church 

SXtof  EToium/  £t  jit]  -rpiirrjv-^rii'-n,'      icdyu  iner    aiiToiv  d^iaXciJrrfjf  ■rTpoar)V)(6fir)V,      It  Can  hardly 

be  conceived,  that  the  apostolic  Hermas  wrote  such  silly  stuff.     It  sounds  much  more 

like  a  later  Hermns  towards  the  middle  of  the  second  century.     Comp.  below,  §  121. 

'  Ep.  LXir.  also  V.  and  VL  ^  KXiJpof  ^c 


i€UV. 


360  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

who  were  married  a  second  time.  This  appears  from  the  accu- 
sation of  TertuUian,  who  asks  the  CathoUcs,  with  Montanistic 
indignation :  "  Quot  enim  et  bigami  praesident  apud  vos,  insul- 
tantes  utique  apostolo?  .  .  Digamus  tinguis?  digamus  ofl'ers?" 
Second  marriage  thus  seems  to  him  to  disquahfj  for  the  admi- 
nistration of  the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper. 
Hippolytus,  in  the  Philosophoumena,  reproaches  the  Eoman 
bishop  Calhstus  with  admitting  to  sacerdotal  and  episcopal 
office  those  who  were  married  the  second  and  even  the  third 
time,  and  allowing  the  clergy  to  marry  after  having  been  or- 
dained. 

The  next  step  was  the  disapproval  of  even  one  marriage  for 
the  clergy ;  but  not  yet  the  prohibition  of  it.  The  priesthood 
and  marriage  became  more  and  more  incompatible  in  the  pre- 
vailing view.  The  Montanists  shared  in  this  feeling ;  among  the 
oracles  of  the  j)rophetess  Prisca  is  one  to  the  effect:  "Only  a 
holy  (that  is  an  unmarried)  minister  can  administer  in  holy 
things."  ^  Even  those  fathers  who  were  married,  like  the  pres- 
byter TertuUian  and  the  bishop  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  give  decided 
preference  to  virginity.  The  Apostolical  Constitutions  and  some 
provincial  councils  accordingly  prohibited  priests  not  only  from 
marrying  a  widow,  or  a  divorced  woman,  or  a  slave,  and  from 
second  marriage,  but  also  from  contracting  marriage  after  ordi- 
nation. The  synod  of  Ancyra,  in  314,  allowed  it  to  deacons, 
but  only  when  they  expressly  stipulated  for  it  before  taking 
orders.  The  rigoristic  Spanish  council  of  Elvira  (Illiberis),  in 
305,  went  farthest.  It  appears  even  to  have  forbidden  the  con- 
tinuance of  nuptial  intercourse  after  consecration,  upon  pain  of 
deposition.^     The  ecumenical  council  of  Nice,  in  325,  to  antici- 


'  Tertull.  De  cxliort.  cast.  c.  10:  Sanctus  minister  sanctimoniam  novit  ministrare. 
That  abstinence  from  all  carnal  intercourse  is  implied  in  the  conception  of  sanctit}', 
seems  to  follow  from  the  connexion. 

2  Can.  33 :  Placuit  in  totnm  prohibere  episcopis,  presbyteris,  et  diaconibus,  vel 
omnibus  clericis  positis  in  ministerio,  abstinexe  se  a  conjugibus  suis,  el  iion  generaro 
lilios;  quicunque  vero  fecerit,  ab  honore  clericatus  cxterminetur.  Some,  however, 
on  account  of  the  v.'OTds  positis  in  ministerio,  would  see  here  only  a  prohibition  of 
sexual  commerce  at  the  time  of  the  performance  of  clerical  functions,  as  in  the  Jew- 


§   96.      MONTANISM.  361 

pate  this  result  here,  proposed  to  make  celibacy  of  priests  tlie 
universal  law  of  tlie  churcli,  but  was  prevented  by  the  protest 
of  the  venerable  Egyptian  bishop  and  confessor  Paphnutius, 
who,  though  himself  a  strict  ascetic,^  and  trained  from  his  youth 
in  an  ascetic  school,^  still  foresaw,  with  true  eye,  the  injurious 
moral  consequences  of  such  coercion.  And  thus  the  movement 
stopped  for  the  present  with  the  decrees  of  the  Apostolical  con- 
stitutions, forbidding  marriage  after  ordination,  without  dissolv- 
ing marriages  contracted  before  it. 

The  Greek  church,  after  the  seventh  century,  limited  the  law 
of  celibacy  to  bishops,  and  made  a  single  marriage  the  rule  for 
priests  and  deacons ;  while  in  the  Latin  church  the  ascetic  prin- 
ciple, in  connexion  with  the  interests  of  hierarchy,  advanced  as 
early  as  the  fourth  century  to  the  absolute  prohibition  of  mar- 
riage for  the  clergy,  and  in  this  way  enhanced  the  official  power 
of  the  priesthood,  but  by  no  means  elevated  its  moral  purity  and 
dignity.  For  while  voluntary  abstinence,  or  such  as  springs 
from  a  special  gift  of  grace,  is  honorable  and  may  be  a  great 
blessing  to  the  church,  the  forced  celibacy  of  the  clerg}^  does 
violence  to  nature  and  Scripture,  and,  all  sacramental  ideas  of 
marriage  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  degrades  this  divine 
ordinance,  which  descends  from  the  primeval  state  of  innocence, 
and  symbolizes  the  holiest  of  all  relations,  the  union  of  Christ 
with  his  church.  Much,  therefore,  as  Catholicism  has  done  to 
raise  woman  and  the  family  life  from  heathen  degradation,  we 
still  find,  in  general,  that  in  Evangelical  Protestant  countries, 
where  the  marriage  of  the  clergy  has  become  the  rule,  particu- 
larly in  Grermany,  England,  and  North  America,  woman  occu- 
pies a  far  higher  grade  of  intellectual  and  moral  culture,  and  the 
married  life  is  practically  regarded  as  far  more  sacred  than  in 
Southern  Europe  and  South  America. 


ish  law ;  but  this  does  not  agree  with  the  otherwise  evident  Montanistic  and  Nova- 
tian  rigorism  of  this  council.  The  positis  in  min.  also  seems  to  refer  only  to  clericis, 
that  is,  in  distinction  from  the  officers  just  specified,  to  subdiaconi  and  other  ordines 
minores. 

^"Arrstpoi  iou  y'l/wv  kuI  ((t,\(j{  ci-civ  yvvaiKOi,  sayS  SocratCS.  '  ' AoKrtTfipKP', 


362  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 


97.  Montanism. 


I.  Tertullian,  in  his  numerous  Montanistic  writings.     Ecseb.  :  H.  E.  V,  3) 

14r-19.     Epipuan.  :  Ilaer.  48  and  49. 

II.  Gr.  Wernsdorf:  De  Montanistis,  Gedani,  1741.     F.  MIjnter:   Effata  et 

oracula  Montanistar.  Havn.  1829.  Neander  :  Antignosticus  oder  Geist 
aus  Tertullian's  Schriften,  Berl.  1825  (2d  ed.  1847).  Schwegler:  Der 
Montanismus  u.  die  christl.  Kirche  des  2ten  Jahrh.  Tiib.  1841  (an  arti- 
ficial and  arbitrary  a-priori  construction  of  history).  Baur:  Das  Wesen 
des  Montanismus  nach  den  neusten  Forschungen,  in  the  Theol.  Jahr- 
bvicher.  Tub.  1851  (comp.  his  Christenth.  der  3  ersten  Jahrh.,  p.  213-224). 
Niedner:  K.  Gesch.  253  sqq.  259  sqq.  Ritschl:  Entstehung  der  altka- 
thol.  Kirche,  2d  ed.  1857,  p.  402-550. 

All  the  ascetic  and  rigoristic  elements  of  the  ancient  church 
combined  in  Montanism.  They  here  asserted  a  claim  to  univer- 
sal validity,  which  the  catholic  church  was  compelled,  for  her 
own  interest,  to  reject;  since  she  left  the  effort  after  extraor- 
dinary holiness  to  the  comparatively  small  circle  of  ascetics  and 
priests,  and  sought  rather  to  lighten  Christianity,  than  add  to  its 
weight,  for  the  great  mass  of  its  professors.  Here  is  the  place, 
therefore,  to  speak  of  this  remarkable  phenomenon,  and  not 
under  the  head  of  doctrine,  where  it  is  commonly  placed.  For 
Montanism  was  not,  originally,  a  departure  from  the  faith,  but  a 
morbid  overstraining  of  the  practical  morality  of  the  earl}-- 
church.  It  is  the  first  example  of  an  earnest  and  well  meaning, 
but  gloomy  and  fanatical  hyperchristianity,  which,  hkc  all 
hypcrspiritualism,  ends  again  in  the  flesh. 

1.  To  speak  first  of  the  external  history  of  Montanism :  It 
originated  in  Asia  Minor,  the  theatre  of  many  movements  of  the 
church  in  this  period ;  and  in  the  province  of  Phrygia,  once  the 
home  of  a  sensuously  m3-stic  and  dreamy  nature-religion.  The 
movement  was  started  after  tlie  middle  of  the  second  century  by 
a  certain  Montanus,  probably  at  first  a  priest  of  Cybele,  with  no 
special  talents  nor  culture,  but  burning  with  fanatical  zeal.  He 
fell  into  somnambuli.stic  ecstasies,  and  considered  himself  the 
inspired  organ  of  the  Paraclete  promised  by  Christ,  of  the  Helper 


§  97.     MONTAJsriSM.  363 

and  Comforter  in  these  last  times  of  distress.  Some  cliurch 
fathers  wrongly  inferred  from  the  use  of  the  first  person  for  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  his  oracles,  that  he  made  himself  directly  the 
Paraclete,  or,  according  to  Ejjiphanius,  even  God  the  Father. 
Connected  with  him  were  two  prophetesses,  Priscilla  and  Maxi- 
milla.  During  the  bloody  persecutions  under  Marcus  Aurelius, 
all  three  went  forth  as  prophets  and  reformers  of  the  Christian 
life,  and  proclaimed  the  near  approach  of  the  age  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  of  the  millennial  reign  in  Pepuza,  a  village  of  Phrygia, 
upon  which  the  new  Jerusalem  was  to  come  down.  The  frantic 
movement  soon  far  exceeded  the  intention  of  its  authors,  and 
threw  the  whole  church  into  commotion. 

The  bishops  and  synods  of  Asia  Minor,  though  not  with  one 
voice,  declared  the  new  prophecy  the  work  of  demons,  and  cut 
off  the  Montanists — also  called  Priscillianists,  Cataphrygians, 
Pepuzians — from  the  fellowship  of  the  church.  Among  their 
literary  opponents  in  the  East  are  mentioned  Claudius  Apolli- 
naris  of  Hierapolis,  Miltiades,  Apollonius,  Serapion  of  Antioch, 
and  Clement  of  Alexandria. 

The  Eoman  church,  likewise,  during  the  episcopate  of  Eleu- 
therus  (177-190)  or  of  Victor  (190-202),  after  some  vacillation, 
set  itself  against  them  at  the  instigation  of  the  presbyter  Caius 
and  the  confessor  Praxeas.^  Yet  the  ojDposition  of  Hippolytus 
to  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus  and  the  later  Novatian  schism  shows 
that  the  disciplinary  rigorism  of  Montanism  found  energetic 
advocates  in  Eome  till  after  the  middle  of  the  third  century. 

The  Gallic  Christians,  Irenaeus  at  their  head,  took  a  concilia- 
tory posture,  and  sympathized  at  least  with  the  moral  earnestness, 
the  enthusiasm  for  martyrdom,  and  the  chiliastic  hopes  of  the 
Montanists.  They  sent  the  presbyter  Irenaeus  to  bishop  Eleu- 
therus  at  Rome  to  intercede  in  their  behalf,  and  this  mission  may 
have  induced  him  or  his  successor  to  issue  letters  of  peace,  which 
were,  however,  soon  afterwards  recalled.^ 

*  Comp.  §  82. 

*  This  is,  however,  merely  a  conjecture.  For  TertulHan,  who  mentions  these 
"  literas  pacis  jam  emissas"  in  favor  of  tlie  Montanists  in  Asia  (Adv.  Prax.  1),  leaves 


364  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

In  North  Africa  they  met  with  extensive  sympathy,  as  the 
Punic  national  character  leans  naturally  towards  gloomy  and 
rigorous  acerbity.^  Here  especially  the  genial,  but  eccentric  and 
rigoristic  Tertullian  became,  from  the  year  201,  a  most  energetic 
and  influential  advocate  of  Montanism,  and  helped  its  dark  feel- 
ing towards  a  twilight  of  philosophy.  He  is  the  proper  and 
only  theologian  of  this  schismatic  movement,  which  started  in 
purely  practical  questions,  and  we  derive  the  best  of  our  know- 
ledge of  it  from  his  works.  Through  him,  too,  its  principles 
reacted  in  many  respects  on  the  Catholic  church ;  and  that  not 
only  in  North  Africa,  but  also  in  Spain,  as  we  may  see  from  the 
harsh  decrees  of  the  council  of  Elvira  in  203.  It  is  singular  that 
Cyprian,  who  with  all  his  high  church  tendencies  and  abhorrence 
of  schism  was  a  daily  reader  of  Tertullian,  makes  no  allusion  to 
Montanism.  Augustine^  relates  that  Tertullian  left  the  Mon- 
tanists  and  founded  a  new  sect  which  wae  called  after  him,  but 
was,  through  his  (Augustine's)  agency,  reconciled  to  the  Catholic 
congregation  of  Carthage. 

As  a  separate  sect  the  Montanists  or  Tertullianists,  as  they 
were  also  called  in  Africa,  run  down  into  the  sixth  century.  The 
successors  of  Constantine,  down  to  Justinian,  530,  repeatedly 
enacted  laws  against  them. 

2.  We  pass  now  to  the  internal  character  of  Montanism. 

In  doctrine  it  agreed  in  all  essential  points  with  the  Catholic 
church,  and  held  very  firmly  to  the  traditional  rule  of  foith."-* 
Infant  baptism  only  it  seems  to  have  rejected,  or  at  least  dis- 
countenanced, though  on  grounds  very  different  from  those  of 
the  later  Baptists ;   namely,   the  assumption,   that  mortal  sins 

us  ill  the  diirk  as  to  the  name  of  the  episcopus  Romanus  from  whom  they  proceeded 
and  by  whom  tliey  were  recalled,  and  as  to  the  cause  of  this  temporary  favor. 

'  This  disposition,  an  iJSjj  mKpdv,  ffxuSpwTiii,  and  (rv>;?'Mi,,  even  Plutarch  notices 
in  the  Carthaginians  (in  his  HoXiriKa  TrapayyiXjiaTa,  c.  3),  and  contrasts  with  the 
excitable  and  cheerful  character  of  the  Athenians. 

2  De  haeresibus,  §  6. 

'  This  was  acknowledged  by  its  opponents.  Epiphanius,  Ilaer.  XLVIIT.  1,  says, 
the  Cataphrygians  receive  the  entire  Scripture  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and 
agree  with  the  holy  Catholic  church  in  their  views  on  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit. 


§  97.      MONTANISM.  365 

could  not  be  forgiven  after  baptism.  Through  TertuHian  it 
contributed  to  the  development  of  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  in  asserting  against  Patripassianism  the  personal  distinc- 
tion in  God,  and  the  import  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Its  views  were 
rooted  neither,  like  Ebionism,  in  Judaism,  nor,  like  Gnosticism, 
in  Heathenism,  but  in  Christianity ;  and  its  errors  consist  in  a 
morbid  exaggeration  of  Christian  ideas  and  demands.  TertuHian 
says,  that  the  administratio  Paracleti  consists  only  in  the  reform 
of  discipline,  in  deeper  understanding  of  the  Scriptures,  and  in 
effort  after  higher  perfection ;  that  it  has  the  same  faith,  the  same 
God,  the  same  Christ,  and  the  same  sacraments  with  the  Catholics. 
The  sect  combated  the  Gnostic  heresy  with  all  decision ;  and  forms 
the  exact  counterpart  of  that  system,  placing  Christianity  chiefly 
in  practical  life  instead  of  theoretical  speculation,  and  looking 
for  the  consummation  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  this  earth, 
though  not  till  the  millennium,  instead  of  transferring  it  into  an 
abstract  ideal  world.  Yet  between  these  two  systems,  as  always 
between  opposite  extremes,  there  were  also  points  of  contact; 
a  common  antagonism,  for  example,  to  the  present  order  of 
the  world,  and  the  distinction  of  a  pneumatic  and  a  psychical 
church 

But  in  the  field  of  practical  life  and  discipline  this  Montanistic 
movement  came  into  conflict  with  the  reigning  Catholicism  ;  and 
this  conflict,  consistently  carried  out,  must  of  course  show  itself 
to  some  extent  in  the  province  of  doctrine.  Every  schismatic 
tendency  becomes  in  its  progress  more  or  less  heretical. 

Montanism,  in  the  first  place,  sought  a  forced  continuance  of  the 
miraculous  gifts  of  the  apostolic  church,  which  gradually  disap- 
peared as  Christianity  became  settled  in  humanity,  and  its  super- 
natural principle  naturalized  on  earth. ^  It  asserted,  above  all, 
the  continuance  of  prophecy,  and  hence  it  went  generally  under 
the  name  of  the  nova  prophetia.  But  the  pretended  prophecy 
appeared  only  in  the  form  of  a  morbid  ecstasy  and  frenzy,  and 
sometimes  fell  to  the  level  of  the  heathen  divination.    TertuHian 

1  In  this  point,  as  in  others,  Montanism  bears  a  striking  affinity  to  Irvingisra. 


366  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

calls  it  an  "  amentia,"  an  "  exciderc  sensu,"  and  describes  it  in  a 
way  which  irresistibly  reminds  one  of  the  phenomena  of  magnetic 
clairvoyance.  Montanus  compares  a  man  in  the  ecstasy  with  a 
musical  instrument,  on  which  the  Holy  Ghost  plays  his  melodies. 
"Behold," — says  he  in  one  of  his  oracles,  in  the  name  of  the 
Paraclete — "  the  man  is  as  a  lyre,  and  I  sweep  over  him  as  a 
plectrum.  The  man  sleeps ;  I  wake.  Behold,  it  is  the  Lord,  who 
puts  the  hearts  of  men  out  of  themselves,^  and  who  gives  hearts 
to  men."  As  to  its  matter,  the  Montanistic  projjhecy  related  to 
the  approaching  heavy  judgments  of  God,  the  persecutions,  the 
millennium,  fasting,  and  other  ascetic  exercises,  which  were  to  be 
enforced  as  laws  of  the  church.  Tertullian  conceived  religion 
as  a  process  of  development,  which  he  illustrated  by  the  analogy 
of  organic  growth  in  nature.  He  distinguishes  in  this  process 
four  stages : — (1.)  Natural  religion,  or  the  innate  idea  of  God ;  (2.) 
the  legal  religion  of  the  Old  Testament ;  (3.)  the  gospel  during  the 
earthly  life  of  Christ ;  and  (-i.)  the  revelation  of  the  Paraclete ; 
that  is,  the  spiritual  religion  of  the  Montanists,  who  accordingly 
called  themselves  the  "rveu/xaTjxoi  or  the  spiritalis  ecclesia,  in  dis- 
tinction from  the  psychical  Catholic  church.  This  is  the  first 
instance  of  a  theory  of  development  which  assumes  an  advance 
beyond  the  New  Testament  and  the  Christianity  of  the  apostles ; 
misapplying  the  parables  of  the  mustard  seed  and  the  leaven,  and 
Paul's  doctrine  of  the  growth  of  the  church  in  Christ  and  his  word, 
not  heyond  them.  Tertullian,  however,  was  by  no  means  rational- 
istic in  his  view.  On  the  contrary,  he  demanded  for  all  new 
revelations  the  closest  agreement  with  the  traditional  faith  of  the 
church,  the  regula  fidci,  which,  in  a  genuine  Montanistic  work,  he 
terms  "  immobilis  et  irreformabilis."  The  Catholic  church  did  not 
deny,  indeed,  the  continuance  of  prophecy  and  the  other  apostolic 
gifts,'  but  was  disposed,  at  least  from  the  beginning  of  the  tliird 
century,  to  derive  the  Montanistic  revelations  from  satanic  inspi- 
ration,^ and  mistrusted  them  all  the  more,  for  their  proceeding 

I  i^iiTTav^ov.  2  Comp.  §  Gf),  p.  204  sq. 

*  Tert.  De  jejun.  11:  Spiritus  dialwli  est,   dicis  o  psychice.     Tertullian  bimsel'', 
however,  always  occupied  an  Louorable  rauk  among  the  church  teachers. 


§  97.    MONTANisM.  ■  367 

not  from  tlie  regular  clergy,  but  in  great  part  from  unauthorized 
laymen  and  fanatical  women. 

This  brings  us  to  another  feature  of  the  Montanistic  movement, 
the  assertion  of  the  universal  prophetic  and  priestly  office  of 
Christians,  even  of  females,  against  the  special  priesthood  in  the 
Catholic  church.  Under  this  view  it  may  be  called  a  democratic 
reaction  against. the  clerical  aristocracy,  which  from  the  time  of 
Ignatius  had  more  and  more  monopolized  all  ministerial  privileges 
and  functions.  The  Montanists  found  the  true  qualification  and 
appointment  for  the  office  of  teacher  in  direct  endowment  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  in  distinction  from  outward  ordination  and  episco- 
pal succession.  They  everywhere  proposed  the  suj^ernatural 
element  and  the  free  motion  of  the  spirit  against  the  mechanism 
of  a  fixed  ecclesiastical  order.  Here  was  the  point  where  they 
necessarily  assumed  a  schismatic  character,  and  arrayed  against 
themselves  the  episcopal  hierarchy.  But  they  only  brought 
another  kind  of  aristocracy  into  the  place  of  the  condemned  dis- 
tinction of  clergy  and  laity.  They  claimed  for  their  prophets 
what  they  denied  to  the  Catholic  bishops.  They  put  a  great  gulf 
between  the  true  spiritual  Christians  and  the  merely  psychical ; 
and  this  induced  spiritual  pride  and  false  pietism.  Their  affinity 
with  the  Protestant  idea  of  the  universal  priesthood  is  more  appa- 
rent than  real ;  they  go  on  altogether  different  principles. 

Another  of  the  essential  and  prominent  traits  of  Montanism  was 
a  visionary  millenarianism,  founded  indeed  on  the  Apocalypse  and 
on  the  apostolic  expectation  of  the  speedy  return  of  Christ,  but 
giving  them  extravagant  weight  and  a  materialistic  coloring.  The 
Montanists  lived  under  a  vivid  impression  of  the  great  final  cata- 
strophe, and  looked  therefore  with  contempt  upon  the  present 
world,  and  directed  all  their  desires  to  the  second  advent  of 
Christ.  Maximilla  says :  "  After  me  there  is  no  more  prophecy, 
but  only  the  end  of  the  world."  The  failure  of  these  predictions 
weakened,  of  course,  all  the  other  pretensions  of  the  system. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  abatement  of  faith  in  the  near  approach 
of  the  Lord  was  certainly  accompanied  with  an  increase  of  world- 
liness  in  the  Catholic  church. 


368  SECOND   TEUIOD.   A.D,    100-311. 

Finally,  the  Montanistic  sect  was  characterized  by  fanatical 
severity  in  asceticism  and  church  discipline.  It  raised  a  zealou? 
protest  against  the  growing  looseness  of  the  Catholic  penitential 
discipline/  which  in  Rome  i)articularly,  under  Zephyrinus  and 
Callistus,  to  the  great  grief  of  earnest  minds,  established  a  scheme 
of  indulgence  for  the  grossest  sins,  and  began,  long  before  Con- 
stantino, to  obscure  the  line  between  the  church  and  the  world. 
Tertullian  makes  the  restoration  of  a  rigorous  discipline  the  chief 
office  of  the  new  prophecy.^  But  Montanism  certainly  went  to 
the  opposite  extreme,  and  fell  from  evangelical  freedom  into 
Jewish  legalism.  It  turned  with  horror  from  all  the  enjoyments 
of  life,  and  held  even  art  to  be  incompatible  with  Christian  sober- 
ness and  humility.  It  forbade  women  all  ornamental  clothing, 
and  required  virgins  to  be  veiled.  It  courted  the  blood-baptism 
of  martyrdom,  and  condemned  concealment  or  flight  in  persecu- 
tion as  a  denial  of  Christ.  It  multiplied  fasts  and  other  ascetic 
exercises,  and  carried  them  to  extreme  severity,  as  the  best  pre- 
paration for  the  millennium.  It  prohibited  second  marriage  as 
adultery,  for  laity  as  well  as  clergy,  and  inclined  even  to  regard 
a  single  marriage  as  a  mere  concession  on  the  jDart  of  God  to  the 
sensuous  infirmity  of  man.  It  taught  the  impossibility  of  a 
second  repentance,  and  refused  to  restore  the  lapsed  to  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  church.  Tertullian  held  all  mortal  sins  (of  which  he 
numbers  seven)  committed  after  baptism  to  be  unpardonable,*'' 
at  least  in  this  world,  and  a  churcli,  which  showed  such  lenity 
towards  gross  offenders,  as  the  Roman  church  at  that  time  did, 
according  to  the  corroborating  testimony  of  Hippolytus,  he 
called  worse  than  a  "  den  of  thieves,"  even  a  "  spclunca  moccho- 
rum  et  fornicatorum."'* 

»  Comp.  §  114. 

2  De  monof^.  c.  2,  he  calls  the  Paraclete  novae  disciplinac  institutor,  but  in  c.  4  ho 
saj's,  correcting  himself:  Paracletus  rcstitutor  potiiis,  quain  institutor  disciplinae. 

3  Comp.  De  pud.  c.  2  and  19. 

^  De  pudic.  c.  1 :  Audio  otiam  edietum  esse  propositum,  ct  quidem  pereniptorium. 
Pontifex  scilicet  maximus,  quod  est  episcopus  episcorum  (so  he  calls,  ironically,  the 
Roman  bishop;  in  all  probability  he  refers  to  Zepliyrinus),  cdicit:  Ego  et  mocchiao 
et  fornicationis  delicta  poenitentia  functis  dimitto.  .  .  .  Absit,  absit  a  sponsa  Christa 
tale  praecouium  1     Ilia,  quae  vera  est,  quae  pudica,  quae  saucta,  carebit  cliam  auriaui 


§  97.      MONTANISM.  369 

The  Catholic  church,  indeed,  as  we  have  already  seen,  opened 
the  door  likewise  to  excessive  ascetic  rigor,  but  only  as  an  excep- 
tion to  her  rule;  while  the  Montanists  pressed  their  rigoristic 
demands  as  binding  upon  all.  Such  universal  asceticism  was 
simply  impracticable  in  a  world  like  the  present,  and  the  sect 
itself  necessarily  dwindled  away.  But  the  religious  earnestness 
which  animated  it,  and  the  fanatical  extremes  into  which  it  ran, 
have  since  reappeared,  under  various  names  and  forms,  in  Nova- 
tianism,  Donatism,  Anabaptism,  the  Camisard  enthusiasm,  Puri- 
tanism, Pietism,  Irvingism,  and  so  on,  by  way  of  protest  and 
wholesome  reaction  against  various  evils  in  the  church. 

macula.  Non  habet  quibus  hoc  repromittat,  et  si  habuerit,  non  repromittit,  quo- 
niam  et  terrenum  Dei  templum  citius  spelunca  latronum  (Matt,  xxi  13)  appellari 
potuit  a  Domino  quam  moechorum  et  fornicatorum. 


24 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE   CHRISTIAN  WORSHIP. 


L  The  richest  sources  here  are  works  of  Justin  M.,  Tertullian,  Ctprian, 
EusEBius,  and  the  so  called  Constitutiones  Apostolicae. 

II.  HiLDEBRANDT :  De  priscae  et  primitivae  ecclesiae  sacris  publicis.  Helmst. 
1702.  Alt  :  Der  christl.  Cultus,  Berl.  I.  1851.  Harnack  :  Der  christl. 
Gemeindegottesdienst  im  apost.  u.  altkath.  Zeitalter.  ErL  1854.  The 
relevant  sections  in  the  archaeological  works  of  Bingham  (Origines 
eccles.,  or,  the  Antiquities  of  the  Christian  Church.  Lond.  1708-22. 
10  vols. ;  new  ed.  Lond.  1852,  in  2  vols.),  Augusti  (whose  larger  work 
fills  12  vols.,  Leipz.  1817-31,  and  his  Handbuch  der  Christl.  ArchaeoL 
3  vols.  Leipz.  183G),  Binterim  (R.  C),  Rheinwald,  Siegel,  Coleman, 
&c. 

§  98.  Plobces  of  Common  Worship. 

R.  Hospinianus  :  De  templis,  etc.  Tig.  1603.  Fabricius  :  De  tempUs  vett. 
Christ.  Helmst.  1704.  Muratori  (R.  C.)  :  De  priniis  Christianorum 
ecclesiis.  Arezzo,  1770.  Comp.  also,  in  part,  the  Uterature  cited  at 
§93. 

The  Christian  worsliip,  as  might  be  expected  from  the  servant- 
form  of  the  church  in  this  period  of  persecution,  was  very  sim- 
ple, strongly  contrasting  with  the  pomp  of  the  later  Catliolicism, 
yet  on  the  other  hand  not  synonymous  with  puritanic  meagre- 
ness  and  baldness.  We  perceive  here,  as  well  as  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  church  and  the  forms  of  her  doctrine,  the  gradual 
and  sure  approach  of  the  Nicene  age. 

Let  us  glance  first  at  the  places  of  public  worship.  Until 
about  the  close  of  the  second  century  the  Christians  held  their 
worship  mostly  in  private  houses,^  or  in  desert  places,  at  the 
graves  of  martyrs,  and  in  the  catacombs.^     This  arose  from 

>  Comp.  §  39.  2  Comp.  §  93. 


§   98.      PLACES   OF   COMMON   WORSHIP.  371 

their  poverty,  tlieir  oppressed  and  outlawed  condition,  their  love 
of  silence  and  solitude,  and  their  aversion  to  all  heathen  art. 
The  apologists  freqaently  assert,  that  their  brethren  had  neither 
temple  nor  altars — meaning  a  national  sanctuary.  Heathens, 
like  Celsus,  cast  this  up  to  them  as  a  reproach ;  but  Origen 
admirably  replied  :  The  humanity  of  Christ  is  the  highest  temple 
and  the  most  beautiful  image  of  God,  and  true  Christians  are 
living  statues  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  with  which  no  Jupiter  of 
Phidias  can  compare.  Justin  Martyr  said  to  the  Roman  prefect : 
The  Christians  assemble  wherever  it  is  convenient,  because  their 
God  is  not,  like  the  gods  of  the  heathens,  inclosed  in  space,  but 
is  invisibly  present  everywhere.  Clement  of  Alexandria  re- 
futes the  superstition,  that  religion  is  bound  to  any  building. 

In  private  houses  the  room  best  suited  for  worship  and  for  the 
love-feast  was  the  oblong  dining-hall,  the  triclinium^  which  was 
never  wanting  in  a  convenient  Greek  or  Roman  dwelling,  and 
which  often  had  a  semicircular  niche,  like  the  choir  ^  in  the 
later  churches.  An  elevated  seat^  was  used  for  reading  the 
Scriptures  and  preaching,  a  basin  of  water  for  baptism,  and  a 
simple  table  ^  for  the  holy  communion.  Similar  arrangements 
were  made  also  in  the  catacombs,  which  sometimes  have  the  form 
of  a  subterranean  church. 

The  first  traces  of  special  houses  of  worship^  occur  in  Ter- 
tuUian,  who  speaks  of  going  to  the  church,^  and  in  liis  contempo- 
rary, Clement  of  Alexandria,  who  mentions  the  double  meaning 
of  the  word  hn^dM.^  About  the  year  230,  Alexander  Severus 
granted  the  Christians  the  right  to  a  place  in  Rome  against  the 
protest  of  the  tavern-keepers,  because  the  worship  of  God  in  any 
form  was  better  than  tavern-keeping.  After  the  middle  of  the 
third  century  the  building  of  churches  began  in  great  earnest, 
as  the  Christians  had  enjoyed  over  forty  years  of  repose  (2 BO- 
SOS),  and  had  so  multiplied,  that,  according  to  Eusebius,  more 

I  Chorus,  8n^a.  2  'AfiPiov,  suggestus,  pulpitum. 

*  Tparre^a,  mensa  sacra ;  also  ara,  altare. 

*  ^EKKXriiriat,  KvptuKai,  oIkoi  Steov,  ecclesiae,  dominicae,  domus  Dei. 

5  In  ecclesiam,  in  domum  Dei  venire.  ^  ToVjs  and  li^poiafia  t<Zv  UXcktuiv, 


372  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

spacious  places  of  devotion  became  everywhere  necessary.  The 
Diocletian  persecution  began  with  the  destruction  of  the  magni- 
ficent church  atNicomedia,  which,  according  to  Lactantius,  even 
towered  above  the  neighboring  imperial  palace.  Rome  is  sup- 
posed to  have  had,  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  fourth 
century,  more  than  forty  churches.  But  of  the  form  and  arrange- 
ment of  them  we  have  no  account. 


§  99v   Weekly  and  Yearly  Festivals. 

R.  HospiNiANDS :  Festa  Christ.,  li.  e.  de  origine,  progressu,  ceremoniis  et 
ritibus  festorum  dierum  Christ.  Tig.  1593,  and  often.  A.  Gr.  Pillwitz  : 
Gesch.  der  heil.  Zeiten  in  der  abendliind.  Kirche.  Dresd.  1842.  M.  A. 
Nickel  (R.  C.)  :  Die  heil.  Zeiten  u.  Feste  nach  ihrer  Gesch.  u.  Feier 
in  der  kath.  Kirche.  Mainz.  1825  sqq.  6  vols.  F.  Piper  :  Gesch.  des 
Osterfestes.  Berl.  1845. 

The  Easter  controversies  are  treated  very  thoroughly,  and  with  reference  to 
the  Johannean  controversy,  by  Weitzel  :  Die  Christl.  Passafeier  der  drei 
ersten  Jahrh.  Pforzheim,  1848  (and  in  the  "  Stud.  u.  Krit."  1848,  No.  4, 
against  Baur).  Baur:  Das  Christenth.  der  3  ersten  Jalirh.  1853,  p.  141 
sqq.  Against  him,  Seitz,  in  the  "  Stud.  u.  Krit."  1856,  p.  721  sqq.,  and 
Lechler  :  Das  apostol.  u.  nachapost.  Zeitalter,  1857,  p.  509  sqq.  The 
sources  for  these  paschal  controversies  are  fragments  from  Melito,  Apolli- 
naris,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Irenaeus,  and  Hippohjtus,  in  Euseb.  IV. 
26,  Y.  23-25,  and  in  the  Chronicon  pasch.  I.  12  sqq. ;  to  wliich  must  be 
added  the  passage  in  the  recently  discovered  Philosophoumena, 
VII.  18. 

1.  The  weekly  festivals.  The  celebration  of  Sunday  in  me- 
mory of  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  dates  undoubtedly  from 
the  apostolic  age.^  It  was  at  all  events,  according  to  the  unani- 
mous testimony  of  Barnabas,  Ignatius,  Pliny,^  and  Justin  Mar- 
tyr, a  universal  custom  in  the  church  at  the  beginning  of  the 
second  century.  On  this  day  of  holy  joy  there  was  no  fosting, 
and  the  kneeling  posture  was  exchanged  for  the  standing  in 
prayer.  Tertulhan  appears  to  have  considered  attention  to  secu- 
lar business  on  Sunday  to  be  sin.  The  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath among  the  Jewish  Christians  gradually  ceased.  Yet  the 
eastern  church  to  this  day  marks  the  seventh  day  of  the  week 

»  Comp.  g  39.  '  "  Stato  die,"  in  liis  letter  to  Trajan. 


§   99.      WEEKLY   AND  YEARLY   FESTIVALS.  873 

(excepting  only  tlie  Easter  Sabbath)  by  omitting  fasting  and  by 
standing  in  prayer ;  wbile  the  Latin  church,  in  direct  opposition 
to  Judaism,  made  Saturday  a  fast  day.  The  controversy  on 
this  point  began  as  early  as  the  end  of  the  second  century. 

"Wednesday,^  and  especially  Friday,^  were  devoted  to  the 
weekly  commemoration  of  the  sufferings  and  death  of  the  Lord, 
and  observed  as  days  of  penance,  or  watch-days,^  with  worship 
and  half-fasting  till  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.^ 

2.  The  yearly  festivals  of  this  period  were  only  Easter,  Pen- 
tecost, and  Epiphany. 

(a)  Easter,^  or  the  Christian  passover,  is  the  oldest  and  most 
important  annual  feast  of  the  church,  and  can  be  traced  back 
into  the  first  century.  It  answered  to  the  Jewish  passover,  and 
was  based  on  the  view  that  Christ  crucified .  and  risen  is  the 
centre  of  faith.  It  formed  at  first  the  beginning  of  the  church 
year.  It  had  a  wide  scope  in  the  early  church,  embracing  both 
the  feast  of  the  crucifixion*  and  the  feast  of  the  resurrection  ;^ 
corresponding  to  the  Friday  and  Sunday  among  weekly  festi- 
vals. Between  the  two  lay  the  great  Sabbath,^  on  which  also 
the  Greek  church  fasted  by  way  of  exception ;  and  the  Easter 
vigils,^  which  were  kept,  with  special  devotion,  by  the  whole 
congregation,  till  the  break  of  day ;  and  kept  the  more  scrupu- 
lously, as  it  was  universally  believed  that  the  Lord's  glorious 
return  would  occur  on  this  night.  The  paschal  feast  was  pre- 
ceded by  a  season  of  penance  and  fasting,  which  culminated  in 
the  holy  week.^"  This  fasting  varied  in  length,  in  different 
countries,  from  one  day  or  forty  hours  to  six  weeks ;  but  after 

1  Feria  quarta.  ^  Feria  sexta,  ^  napaoKevfi. 

'  Dies  stationum  of  the  milites  Christi.  ■*  Semijejunia. 

®  The  English  Easier,  Anglo-Saxon  Osier,  German  Ostern,  is  at  all  events  con- 
nected with  East  and  sunrise,  and  is  akin  to  ndt;,  oriens,  aurora  (comp.  Jac.  Grimm's 
Deutsche  Mythol.  1835,  p.  181  and  349).  The  comparison  of  sunrise  and  the  natu- 
ral spring  with  the  new  moral  creation  in  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  the  transfer 
of  the  celebration  of  Ostara,  the  old  German  divinity  of  the  rising,  health-bringing 
light,  to  the  Christian  Easter  festival,  was  the  easier,  because  all  nature  is  a  symbol 
of  spirit,  and  the  heathen  myths  are  dim  presentiments  and  carnal  anticipations  of 
Christian  truths. 

*  ITaiTi^a  aravpoiaiixov.  "^   Wau'^a  dvaaTMi^ov, 

8  Sabbatum  magnum.  9  Ilavi'iip^iMej.  "  'E/?J»f(nj  jxtyiWr), 


37-i  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311, 

the  fiftli  century,  through  the  influence  of  Eome,  it  was  univer- 
sally fixed  at  forty  days,^  with  reference  to  the  forty  days'  fast- 
ing of  Christ  in  the  wilderness,^  and  the  Old  Testament  types  of 
that  event. 

Respecting  the  time  of  Easter  and  of  the  fast  connected  with 
it,  a  difference  prevailed,  which  in  the  second  century  gave  rise 
to  violent  controversies  in  the  church ;  and  more  recently  has 
occasioned  almost  equally  violent  controversies  in  the  school — in 
connexion  with  the  questions  of  the  primacy  of  Rome  and  the 
genuineness  of  John's  Gospel.  The  Christians  of  Asia  Minor, 
following  the  Je^vish  chronology,  and  appealing  to  the  authority 
of  the  apostles  John  and  Philip,  celebrated  the  Passover  on  the 
fourteenth  of  Nisan,^  fixed  the  close  of  the  fast  accordingly,  and 
seem  to  have  partaken  on  the  evening  of  this  day,  after  three 
o'clock,  not  indeed  of  the  Jewish  paschal  lamb,  a^  has  sometimes 
been  supposed,  but  of  the  communion  and  love-feasts,  as  the 
Christian  passover  and  the  festival  of  the  redemption  completed 
by  the  death  of  Christ.^  Hence  they  were  afterwards  called 
Quartodecvmani,  Ts(f(ia^s(fxaiSsxaT7rcu.  The  Roman  church,  on  the 
contrary,  according  to  early  custom,  celebrated  the  death  of  Je- 
sus always  on  Friday,  and  his  resurrection  on  a  Sunday  after 
the  March  full  moon,  and  extended  the  fast  to  the  latter  day. 
The  gist  of  the  controvers}^,  therefore,  was,  whether  tlie  Jewish 
paschal-day,  be  it  a  Friday  or  not,  or  the  Christian  Sunday, 
should  control  the  idea  and  time  of  the  entire  festival.  The  Jo- 
hannean  practice  of  Asia  represented  here  the  spirit  of  adhesion 
to  objective  historical  precedent ;  the  Roman,  the  principle  of 
freedom  and  discretionary  change,  and  the  independence  of  the 
Christian  festival  system  towards  the  Jewish.  Dogmatically 
stated,  the  difference  would  be,  that  in  the  former  case  the  chief 
stress  was  laid  on  the  Lord's  death;  in  the  latter,  on  his  resur- 

*  Quadragesima.  *  Matt.  iv.  2. 
3  The  1(5  =14,     Hence  the  sectarian  name  Quartodeciraani. 

*  From  this  it  has  been  not  unjustly  inferred,  that,  according  to  the  presumption 
of  the  Asiatic  Christians,  Christ  died  as  the  true  pasclial  Lamb  on  the  14th,  not  on 
the  15th  ;  that,  consequently,  this  practice  argues  rather  for  than  against  the  authen- 
ticity of  John's  Gospel,  which  likewise  places  the  death  on  the  14th. 


§   99.      WEEKLY  AXD  YEARLY   FESTIVALS.  875 

rection.  But  tlie  leading  interest  of  the  question  for  the  early 
church  was  not  the  astronomical,  nor  the  dogmatical,  but  the 
ritual.  The  main  object  was  to  assert  the  originality  of  the 
Christian  festival  cycle,  and  its  independence  of  Judaism ;  and 
on  this  account  the  Eoman  usage  at  last  triumphed  even  in  the 
east. 

The  difference  came  into  discussion  first  on  a  visit  of  Poly  carp, 
bishop  of  Smyrna,  to  Anicet,  bishop  of  Eome,  about  the  year 
160.  It  was  not  settled;  yet  the  two  bishops  parted  in  peace, 
after  the  latter  had  charged  his  venerable  guest  to  celebrate  the 
holy  communion  in  his  church. 

Soon  after,  about  a.d.  170,  the  controversy  broke  out  under 
another  form,  in  Laodicea,  where  it  seems  a  third  usage  had 
arisen,  the  Judaizing  rite  of  eating  the  paschal  lamb  on  the  l-tth 
of  Nisan;  though  this  was  rejected  even  by  the  Asiatic  bishops 
Melito  of  Sardis  and  Apollinaris  of  Hierapolis,  on  the  ground 
that  Jesus  (according  to  the  gospel  of  John)  did  not  eat  the  legal 
passover,  but  died  as  the  true  paschal  lamb.  The  same  argu- 
ment is  urged  in  the  fragments  of  Hippolytus.  Thus,  in  order 
to  harmonize  the  accounts — certainly  very  incomplete — in  Euse- 
bius  and  in  the  chronicon  paschale,  we  have  to  distinguish  two 
parties  of  Quartodecimanians ;  an  orthodox  party  and  a  here- 
tical— in  this  point  Judaistic — one ;  the  former  of  which  was  the 
more  widely  spread  in  Asia  Minor,  the  latter  limited  to  Laodicea. 

Much  more  important  and  vehement  was  the  third  stage  of 
the  controversy,  which  extended  over  the  whole  church,  and 
occasioned  many  synods  and  synodical  letters.  The  Roman 
bishop  Victor,  a  very  different  man  from  his  predecessor  Anicet, 
in  196  required  the  Asiatics,  in  an  imperious  tone,  to  abandon 
their  quartodecimanian  practice.  Against  this  Polycrates,  bishop 
of  Ephesus,  solemnly  protested  in  the  name  of  a  synod  held  by 
him,  and  appealed  to  an  imposing  array  of  authorities  for  their 
primitive  custom.  When  Victor  thereupon  branded  them  as 
heretics,  and  threatened  to  excommunicate  them,  even  Irenaeus, 
in  the  name  of  the  Grallic  Christians,  though  he  agreed  with  Vic- 
tor on  the  disputed  point,  earnestly  admonished  him  for  such 


376  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

arrogance,  and  this  protest  appears  to  have  prevented  the  excom- 
munication. 

In  the  course  of  the  third  century,  however,  the  Roman  prac- 
tice gained  ground  in  the  east,  and — to  anticipate  the  result — 
was  established  by  the  council  of  Nice  in  825  as  the  law  of  the 
whole  church.  This  council  considered  it  unbecoming  in  Chris- 
tians  to  follow  the  usage  of  the  unbelieving,  hostile  Jews,  and 
ordained  that  Easter  should  always  be  celebrated  on  the  Sunday 
which  fell  upon  the  first  new  moon  after  the  vernal  equinox,  and 
always  afkr  the  Jewish  passover.  Henceforth  the  Quartodeci- 
manians  were  universally  regarded  as  heretics,  and  were  punished 
as  such.  The  desired  uniformity,  however,  was  still  hindered 
by  differences  in  reckoning  the  Easter  Sunday  according  to  the 
course  of  the  moon  and  the  equinox,  which  the  Alexandrians 
fixed  on  the  21st  of  March,  and  the  Romans  on  the  18th ;  so  that, 
in  the  year  887,.  for  example,  the  Romans  kept  Easter  on  the 
21st  of  March,  and  the  Alexandrians  not  till  the  25th  of  April. 

(b)  Easter  was  followed  by  the  festival  of  Pentecost,  which 
likewise  rested  on  Jewish  precedent,  and  was  universally  observed 
as  early  as  the  second  century  in  memory  of  the  appearances  and 
heavenly  exaltation  of  the  risen  Lord.  It  lasted  through  fifty 
days — Quinquagesima — which  were  celebrated  as  a  continuous 
Sunday,  by  daily  communion,  the  standing  posture  in  prayer, 
and  the  absence  of  all  fasting.  Subsequently  the  celebration 
was  limited  to  the  fortieth  day  as  the  feast  of  the  Ascension,  and 
the  fiftieth,  or  Pentecost  proper,  as  the  feast  of  the  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  birthday  of  the  Christian  church. 

(c)  The  feast  of  the  Epiphany  is  of  later  origin.  It  spread  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  second  century  from  the  east  towards  the 
west,  but  here,  even  in  the  fourth  century,  it  was  resisted  by 
such  parties  as  the  Donatists,  and  condemned  as  an  oriental  inno- 
vation. It  was,  in  general,  the  feast  of  the  appearance^  of  Christ 
in  the  flesh,  and  particularly  of  the  manifestation  of  his  Messiah- 
ship  by  his  baptism  in  the  Jordan,  the  festival  at  once  of  his 

'KTTii^afCia. 


§    100.      CHRISTIAN   SYMBOLS.  877 

birtli  and  Ms  baptism.  It  was  usually  kept  on  tlie  Gth.  of 
January.  In  the  west  it  was  afterwards  made  a  collective  festi- 
val of  several  events  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  and,  as  the  "feast  of  the 
three  kings,"  that  is,  the  wise  men  from  the  east,  it  was  placed 
in  special  connexion  with  the  mission  to  the  heathen. 

(d)  Of  the  Christmas  festival  there  is  no  clear  trace  before  the 
fourth  century ;  partly  because  the  feast  of  the  Epiphany  in  a 
measure  held  the  place  of  it ;  partly  because  the  birth  of  Christ, 
the  date  of  which,  at  any  rate,  was  uncertain,  was  less  prominent 
in  the  Christian  mind  than  his  death  and  resurrection. 

(e)  The  veneration  for  martyrs  ^  was  the  first  and  the  innocent 
occasion  of  the  festivals  of  the  saints ;  but  these  did  not  acquire 
a  definite  and  settled  form  till  the  following  period. 

§  100.   Christian  Symhols. 

Fr.  MiJNTER:  Sinnbilder  u.  Kunstvorstellungen  der  alten  Christen.  Altona,. 
1825.  Helmsdorfer:  Christl.  Kunstsymbolik  u.  Ikonographie.  Frkf. 
1839.  F.  Piper:  Mythologie  u.  Symbolik  der  christl.  Kunst.  vol.  I.. 
Weimar,  1847-51.  F.  Piper:  Ueber  den  christl.  Bilderkreis.  Bed.. 
1852.  (p.  3-10.)     Comp.  also  the  literature  at  §  93. 

Christianity  owed  its  origin  neither  to  art  nor  to  science,  and  is- 
altogether  independent  of  both.  But  it  serves  itself  of  both,, 
penetrates  and  pervades  them  with  its  leaven-like  nature,  and 
baptizes  them  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  Art  reaches  its  real  perfec- 
tion in  worship,  as  an  embodiment  of  religion  and  devotion  in 
beautiful  forms,  which  afford  a  pure  j^leasure,  and  at  the  same 
time  excite  and  promote  devotional  feeling.  Hence,  in  all  civi- 
lized nations  it  stands  united  with  religion.  Poetry  and  music, 
the  most  free  and  spiritual  arts,  which  present  their  ideals  in 
word  and  tone,  and  lead  immediately  from  the  outward  form  to 
the  spiritual  substance,  were  an  essential  element  of  worship  even 
in  Judaism,  and  passed  thence,  in  the  singing  of  psalms,  into  the 
Christian  church. 

Not  so  with  the  plastic  arts,  especially  sculjDture  and  painting, 

I  Comp.  §  59. 


878  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

which  employ  grosser  material,  stone,  wood,  color,  as  the  medium 
of  representation,  and,  with  a  lower  grade  of  culture,  are  almost 
inevitably  perverted  to  idolatry.  The  ante-Nicene  church  had  a 
decided  aversion  to  these  arts ;  in  the  first  place,  on  account  of 
the  well  known  prohibition  in  the  decalogue,  and  then  on  account 
of  the  degradation  of  art  in  that  age  to  the  service  of  idolatry  and 
immorality.  In  the  worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  also, 
it  thought  the  symbols  of  the  Jewish  temple  could  be  dispensed 
with,  as  mere  shadows  of  the  real  good  things  now  revealed. 
"  We  must  not  cleave  to  the  sensible,"  says  Clement  of  Alexan- 
dria, "  but  rise  to  the  spiritual ;  the  habit  of  daily  view  lowers 
the  dignity  of  the  divine,  which  cannot  be  honored,  but  is  only 
degraded,  by  sensible  material."  This  hostility  to  art,  carried 
furthest  by  the  rigoristic  Montanists,  was  closely  connected,  too, 
with  the  servant-form  of  the  early  church,  her  thorough  contempt 
for  all  hypocritical  show  and  all  earthly  vanities,  her  enthusiasm 
for  martyrdom,  and  her  absorbing  expectation  of  the  speedy 
destruction  of  the  world  and  establishment  of  the  millennial 
kingdom. 

Tertullian,  and  even  Clement  of  Alexandria,  supposed  tlie 
external  ajDpearance  of  the  Redeemer  himself  to  have  been  ugly, 
according  to  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  Messianic  prophecy  :' 
"  He  hath  no  form  nor  comeliness,"  &c.  A  true  and  healthy 
feeling  leads  rather  to  the  opposite  view ;  for  Jesus  certainly 
had  not  the  phj^siognomy  of  a  sinner,  and  the  heavenly  purity 
and  harmony  of  his  soul  must  in  some  way  have  shone  through 
the  veil  of  his  flesh.  Those  fathers,  however,  had  the  state  of 
humiliation  alone  in  their  eye.  The  exalted  Redeemer  they 
themselves  viewed  as  clothed  with  unfading  beauty  and  glory, 
which  was  to  pass  from  Him,  the  Head,  to  his  church  also,  in 
her  perfect  millennial  state.  "We  have  here,  therefore,  not  an 
essential  opposition  made  between  holiness  and  beauty,  but  only 
a  temporary  separation. 

Notwithstanding  this  aversion  of  the  early  Christians  to  the 

'  Is.  liii.  2,  8. 


§   100.      CHRISTIAN  SYMBOLS.  379 

plastic  arts  in  public  worship,  the  artistic  feeling  asserted  itself 
among  them  without  contradiction  in  the  sphere  of  private  de- 
votion even  in  the  second  century.  Christian  art  was  born  in 
the  house  and  upon  tombs,  ^  and  thence,  in  the  fourth  century, 
passed  into  the  church  and  the  public  worship.  It  originated  in 
the  practical  necessity  of  suppressing  the  heathen  mythological 
figures  on  walls,  floors,  goblets,  seal-rings,  and  grave-stones, 
and  substituting  symbols,  which  might  perpetually  remind  the 
Christians  of  their  Eedeemer  from  sin  and  misery,  and  of  their 
own  holy  calling.  Innocent  and  natural  as  this  effort  was,  it 
could  easily  lead,  in  the  less  intelligent  multitude,  to  confusion 
of  the  sign  with  the  thing  signified,  and  to  many  a  superstition. 
Yet  this  result  was  the  less  apparent  in  the  first  three  centuries, 
because  in  that  period  artistic  works  were  confined  to  the  pro- 
vince of  symbol  and  allegory. 

The  oldest  and  dearest  of  these  primitive  Christian  symbols  is 
the  cross,  the  sign  of  redemption ;  sometimes  alone,  sometimes 
with  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  sometimes  with  the  anchor  of  hope 
or  the  palm  of  peace.  Upon  this  arose,  as  early  as  the  second 
century,  the  custom  of  making  the  sign  of  the  cross,^  according 
to  Tertullian,  on  rising,  bathing,  going  out,  eating,  in  short  on 
engaging  in  any  affairs  of  every-day  life ;  a  custom  probably 
attended  in  many  cases,  even  in  that  age,  with  superstitious  con- 
fidence in  the  magical  virtue  of  this  sign.  We  find  as  fre- 
quently, particularly  upon  ornaments  and  tombs,  the  monogram 
of  the  name  of  Christ,  X  P,  usually  combined  in  the  cruciform 
character,  -^^  either  alone,  or  with  the  Greek  letters  a  and  w, 
"  the  first  and  the  last ;"  in  later  cases  with  the  addition :  "  in 
signo  "  (in  hoc  signo  vinces). 

A  further  step  was  the  allegorical  representation  of  Christ  him- 
self;  now  as  a  shepherd,  who  lays  down  his  life  for  the  sheep,^ 
or  carries  the  lost  sheep  on  his  shoulders  ;^  now  as  a  lamb,  who 
bears  the  sin  of  the  world  f  more  rarely  as  a  ram,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  substituted  victim  in  the  history  of  Abraham  and 

1  Comp.  §  93.  ^  Signaculum  crucis.  '  Jno.  x.  11. 

*  Lu.  XV.  3-7:  comp.  Is.  xvi.  11.  5  jno.  i.  29 ;  1  Pet.  i.  19;  Rev.  v.  12. 


380  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

Isaac  ;^  frequently  as  a  fistier,  as  Clement  of  Alexandria  in  liis 
hymn  calls  Christ  the  "  Fisher  of  mortals,  who  with  his  sweet 
life  catches  the  pure  fish  out  of  the  hostile  flood  in  the  sea  of 
iniquity."  A  very  favorite  figure  was  that  of  the  fish ;  partly 
as  a  pregnant  anagram,  the  corresponding  Greek  Ichthys  con- 
taining the  initials  of  the  words :  "  Jesus  Christ,  Son  of  God, 
Saviour  ;"^  but  partly,  and  perhaps  originally,  as  a  symbol  of 
the  soul  caught  in  the  net  of  the  great  Fisher  of  men  and  his 
servants,  with  reference  to  Matt,  iv,  19 ;  comp.  xiii.  47.  Ter- 
tullian  gives  it  another  rather  artificial  application  to  the  water 
of  baptism,  where  he  says  :^  "  "We  little  fishes  (pisciculi)  are 
born  by  our  Fish  (secundum  'IX0TN  nostrum)  Jesus  Christ,  in 
water,  and  can  thrive  only  by  continuing  in  the  water ;"  that  is, 
if  we  are  faithful  to  our  baptismal  covenant,  and  preserve  the 
grace  there  received. 

The  following  symbols  relate  to  the  virtues  and  duties  of  the 
Christian  life :  The  dove,  with  or  without  the  olive  branch,  the 
type  of  simplicity  and  innocence  '*  the  ship,  representing  some- 
times the  church,  as  safely  sailing  through  the  flood  of  cornqv 
tion,  with  reference  to  Noah's  ark,  sometimes  the  individual  soul 
on  its  voyage  to  the  heavenly  home  under  the  conduct  of  the 
storm-controlling  Saviour ;  the  palm-branch,  which  the  Aj30ca- 
lypse^  puts  into  the  hands  of  the  elect,  as  the  sign  of  victory ; 
the  anchor,  the  figure  of  hope  f  the  lyre,  denoting  festal  joy 
and  sweet  harmony ;  the  cock,  an  admonition  to  watchfulness, 
with  reference  to  Peter's  fall  f  the  hart,  which  pants  for  the 
water-brooks  f  and  the  phenix,  a  symbol  of  rejuvenation  and 
of  the  resurrection,  derived  from  the  well  known  heathen  myth. 

Besides  these  emblems,  there  were  typical  prophetic  scenes 
from  the  Old  Testament,  such  as  the  fall,  the  ark  of  Noah,  the 
giving  of  the  law,  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac,  the  deliverance  of  Jonah, 

» 

*  Gen.  xxii.  13. 

'  '1X0Y12  =  'Iriirjvi  Xpiffroj  Ocov  Y[oj  Ewriiip.  Comp.  Augustiu  Do  civit.  Dei. 
xviii.  23. 

'  De  baptisnio,  c.  1. 

*  Matt.  X.  16;  comp.  iii.  IG.    Gen.  viii.  11.    Sol.  Song  vi.  9. 

5  vii.  9.  «  Hob.  vi.  19.  ^  Matt.  xxvi.  34.  ^  pg.  xlii.  1. 


§    101.      PUBLIC   WORSHIP.  381 

tlie  translation  of  Elijah,  Daniel  in  the  lions'  den,  &c.,  painted  in 
the  catacombs  perhaps  as  early  as  the  third  century.  From  this 
it  was  but  a  single  step  to  the  plastic  representation  of  scenes 
from  the  Gospels  and  from  apostolic  and  post-apostolic  history. 
The  sympathy  with  art  increased  just  in  proportion  as  the 
church  appropriated  Grecian  literature  and  culture.  Perhaps 
Gnosticism  had  a  stimulating  effect  in  art,  as  it  had  in  theology. 
At  all  events  the  sects  of  the  Carpocratians,  the  Basilideans,  and 
the  Manichaeans  cherished  art. 

Yet,  previous  to  the  time  of  Constantine,  we  find  no  trace  of 
an  image  of  Christ,  properly  speaking,  except  among  the  Gnos- 
tic Carpocratians,  and  in  the  case  of  the  heathen  emperor  Alex 
ander  Severus,  who  adorned  his  domestic  chapel,  as  a  sort  of 
pantheistic  Pantheon,  with  representatives  of  all  religions.  The 
above-mentioned  idea  of  the  uncomely  personal  appearance  of 
Jesus,  the  entire  silence  of  the  Gospels  about  it,  and  the  Old 
Testament  prohibition  of  images,  restrained  the  church  from 
making  either  pictures  or  statues  of  Christ,  until  the  Nicene  age, 
when  a  great  reaction  in  this  respect  took  place,  though  not 
without  energetic  and  long  continued  opposition. 

The  first  attemjits  to  transfer  these  emblematic  representations 
from  dwellings  and  tombs  into  the  churches  appear  to  have 
been  made  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century ;  but  they 
were  also  resisted.  The  rigid  Spanish  council  of  Elvira  in  805, 
for  example,  decreed  in  can.  36 :  "  There  must  be  no  pictures 
in  the  churches,  and  the  objects  of  veneration  and  worship  shall 
not  be  painted  on  the  walls." 


§  101.  PuUic  Worship. 

On  the  secret  discipline  comp.  particularly  R.  Rothe:  De  Disciplinae  arcani, 
quae  dicitur,  in  Ecclesia  Christ.  Origine.    Heidelb.  1841. 

The  earliest  description  of  the  Christian  worship  is  given  us 
by  a  heathen,  the  younger  Pliny,  a.d.  107,  in  his  well  known 
letter  to  Trajan,  which  embodies  the  result  of  his  judicial  inves- 


882  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

ligations  in  Bithynia.^  According  to  tliis,  the  Christians  assem- 
bled on  an  appointed  day  (Sunday)  at  sunrise,  sang  responsively 
a  song  to  Christ  as  to  God,  and  then  pledged  themselves  by  an 
oath,^  not  to  any  evil  work,  but  that  they  would  commit  no 
theft,  robbery,  nor  adultery,  would  not  break  their  word,  nor 
sacrifice  property  intrusted  to  them.  Afterwards  (at  evening) 
they  assembled  again,  to  eat  ordinary  and  innocent  food  (the 
agapae).  This  account  then  bears  witness  to  the  primitive  ob- 
servance of  Sunday,  the  separation  of  the  love-feast  from  the 
morning  worship  (with  the  communion),  and  the  worship  of 
Christ  as  God  in  song. 

Unfortunately  nothing  remains  of  this  primitive  Christian 
psalmody,  except  the  sublime  hymn  in  Clement  of  Alexandria 
(which,  however,  is  not  at  all  suited  for  j^uUic  worship,  and  was 
probably  never  intended  for  such  use),  the  morning  and  evening 
hymn  in  the  Apostolical  Constitutions,  and  the  first  forms  of  the 
gloria  in  excelsis  or  hymnus  angel  icus.  An  author  towards  the 
close  of  the  second  century  ^  could  appeal  against  the  Artemo- 
nites,  to  a  multitude  of  such  hymns,  in  proof  of  the  faith  of  the 
church  in  the  divinity  of  Christ:  "How  many  psalms  and  odes 
of  the  Christians  are  there  not,  which  have  been  written  from 
the  beginning  by  believers,  and  which,  in  their  theology,  praise 
Christ  as  the  Logos  of  God?"  Tradition  says,  that  the  antipho- 
nies,  or  responsive  songs,  were  introduced  by  Ignatius  of  An- 
tioch.  The  Gnostics,  Valentine  and  Bardesanes,  also  composed 
religious  songs ;  and  the  church  surely  learned  the  practice  not 
from  them,  but  from  the  Old  Testament  psalms, 

Justin  Mart3'r,  at  the  close  of  his  larger  Apology,'*  describes 
the  public  worship  more  particularly,  as  it  was  conducted  about 
the  year  139.  After  giving  a  full  account  of  baptism  and  the 
holy  Supper,  to  which  we  shall  refer  again,  he  continues:  "On 
Sunday  a  meeting  of  all,  who  live  in  the  cities  and  villages,  is 
held,  and  a  section  from  the  memoirs  of  the  apostles  (the  Gospels) 
and  the  writings  of  the  prophets  (the  Old  Testament)  is  read,  as 

'  Comp.  §  53,  p.  164.         2  Sacramentum.  3  In  Eus.  V.  28.  *  C.  6.5-67. 


§    101.      PUBLIC   WORSHIP.  383 

long  as  the  time  permits.^  When  the  reader  has  finished,  the 
president,^  in  a  discourse,  gives  an  exhortation^  to  the  imitation 
of  these  noble  things.  After  this  we  all  rise  in  common  prayer.^ 
At  the  close  of  the  prayer,  as  we  have  before  described,^  bread 
and  wine  with  water  are  brought.  The  president  offers  prayer 
and  thanks  for  them,  according  to  the  power  given  him,*'  and 
the  congregation  responds  the  Amen.  Then  the  consecrated 
elements  are  distributed  to  each  one,  and  partaken,  and  are  car- 
ried by  the  deacons  to  the  houses  of  the  absent.  The  wealthy 
and  the  willing  then  give  contributions  according  to  their  free 
will,  and  this  collection  is  deposited  with  the  president,  who 
therewith  supplies  orphans  and  widows,  poor  and  needy,  pri- 
soners and  strangers,  and  takes  care  of  all  who  are  in  want. 
We  assemble  in  common  on  Sunday,  because  this  is  the  first  day, 
on  which  God  created  the  world  and  the  light,  and  because 
Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour  on  the  same  day  rose  from  the  dead 
and  appeared  to  his  disciples." 

Here  prayer,  song,  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  preaching  (and 
that  as  an  episcopal  function),  and  communion,  plainly  appear  as 
the  regular  parts  of  the  Sunday  worship;  all  descending,  no 
doubt,  from  the  apostolic  age.^  The  communion  is  not  yet 
clearly  separated  from  the  other  parts  of  the  worship.  But  this 
was  done  towards  the  end  of  the  second  century. 

For  at  that  time  the  public  service  was  then  divided  into 
the  worship  of  the  catechumens,®  and  the  worship  of  the  faith- 

*  MexP'i  ^YX^C"'  ^  ^  rpocuToig,  the  presiding  presbyter  or  bishop. 

3  Tfiv  vov^e^iav  Ka'i  TnipaifXjjTii'.         *  Evx^i  Tt/in-ufici',  preces  emittimus.         ^  0.  65. 

'"Oo-j;  avrtj  Sifafiti;  that  is  probably,  pro  viribus,  quantum  potest;  or  like  Tertul- 
lian's  "de  pectore"  and  "ex  proprio  ingenio."  Others  translate:  totis  viribus,  with 
all  his  might.  Comp.  Otto :  0pp.  Just.  M.  I.  p.  160.  The  passages,  however,  in  no  case 
contain  any  oidposition  to  forms  of  prayer  which  were  certainly  in  use  already  at 
that  time,  and  familiar  without  book  to  every  worshipper;  above  all  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  The  whole  liturgical  literature  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  presupposes 
a  much  older  liturgical  tradition.  The  prayers  in  the  eighth  book  of  the  apost.  con- 
stitutions are  probably  among  the  oldest  portions  of  the  work.     Comp.  §  93. 

»  Comp.  §  36. 

8  AtiTovpyia  rrov  ifHTrjY'Ji'f £''«'■,  missa  catecliumenorum.  The  name  missa  cat. 
and  fid.,  occurs  first  in  Augustine  and  in  the  acts  of  the  council  at  Carthage,  A.  D. 
398.     It  arose  from  the  formula  of  dismission  at  the  close  of  each  part  of  the  services, 


38-1  SECOND   PERIOD,   A.D.    100-311. 

ful.^  The  former  consisted  of  scripture  reading,  preacliing, 
prayer,  and  song,  and  was  open  to  the  unbaptized  and  persons 
under  penance.  The  latter  consisted  of  the  communion,  with  its 
liturgical  appendages;  none  but  the  proper  members  of  the  church 
could  attend  it ;  and  before  it  began,  all  catechumens  and  unbe- 
lievers left  the  assembly  at  the  order  of  the  deacon,^  and  the 
doors  were  closed  or  guarded.  The  earliest  witness  for  this 
strict  separation  is  Tertullian,  who  reproaches  the  heretics  with 
allowing  the  baptized  and  the  unbaptized  to  attend  the  same 
prayers,  and  casting  the  holy  even  before  the  heathens.^  He 
demands,  that  believers,  catechumens,  and  heathens  should 
occupy  separate  places  in  public  worship.  The  Alexandrian 
divines  furnished  a  theoretical  ground  for  this  practice  by  their 
doctrine  of  a  secret  tradition  for  the  esoteric.  Besides  the  com- 
munion, the  sacrament  of  baptism,  with  its  accompanying  con- 
fession, was  likewise  treated  as  a  mystery  for  the  initiated,^  and 
withdrawn  from  the  view  of  Jews  and  heathens. 

We  have  here  the  beginnings  of  the  Christian  mystery-wor- 
ship, or  what  has  been  called  since  1679  the  secret  discipline, 
Disciplina  arcani^  which  is  presented  in  its  full  development  in 
the  liturgies  of  the  fourth  century,  but  disappeared  from  the 
Latin  church  after  the  sixth  century,  with  the  dissolution  of 
heathenism  and  the  universal  introduction  of  infant  baptism. 
The  secret  discipline  had  reference  not  to  doctrine — this  was 
inculcated  upon  the  catechumens — but  only  to  the  ritual,  to  the 
celebration  of  the  sacraments;  and  the  conclusions,  therefore, 
which  many  Roman  Catholic  theologians  have  drawn  from  its 

and  is  equivalent  to  niissio,  clismissio.  Missa  (mass)  afterwards  came  to  denote 
exclusively  the  celebration  of  the  holy  communion 

1  Atirutipyi'a  rCtv  -KiarCtv,  missa  fidelium. 

2  Mil  ri{  Twv   KaTr)-)(uvjiivMi,  fin  rif  ruiti  aKpoiOfi'iiwu,  fiii  Tt{  Ttov  diriaroii,  /jrj  ti{  tuv  ircpo- 

iu^wv.     Comp.  Const.  Apost.  viii.  12. 

*  De  praescr.  haer.  c.  41 :  quis  catechumenus,  quis  fidelis,  incertum  est  (that  is, 
among  the  heretics) ;  pariter  adeunt,  pariter  orant,  etiam  cthnici,  si  supervcnerint ; 
sanctum  canibus  et  porcis  margaritas,  licet  non  voras  (since  tiicy  have  no  proper 
sacraments),  jactabuiit.  But  this  does  not  apply  to  all  heretics,  least  of  all  to  tlio 
Manichaeans,  who  carried  the  notion  of  mystery  in  the  sacraments  much  further 
than  the  catholics. 

*  MOijToi,  initiati  =:  ntaroi,  fldeles. 


§   101.      PUBLIC  WORSHIP.  385 

mysterious  silence,  in  favor  of  transubstantiation,  saint-worship, 
and  other  later  dogmas,  are  wliollj  unwarranted.^  Some  have 
recently  assigned  the  origin  of  this  institution  of  the  Nicene  and 
ante-Nicene  cultus  even  to  the  apostolic  age,  and  have  supposed 
it  to  explain  the  more  readily  the  early  slanders  of  the  heathens 
upon  the  celebration  of  the  communion  and  the  agape.^  But 
against  this  are  the  words  of  Paul  in  1  Cor.  xiv.  23-25,  and  the  fact, 
that  Justin  Martyr,  in  his  first  apology,  addressed  to  a  heathen 
emperor,  describes  the  celebration  of  baptism  and  the  holy  sup- 
per without  the  least  reserve,  while  the  later  apologists  do  not 
use  such  freedom.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  we  cannot  well 
trace  this  secret  discipline  to  the  mysteries  of  the  pagan  worship, 
though  many  expressions  and  formulas  of  these  mysteries,  toge- 
ther with  all  sorts  of  unscriptural  mystic  pedantries,  gathered  upon 
it.  Its  origin  must  be  sought  rather  in  an  opposition  to  heatlien- 
ism ;  to  wit,  in  the  feeling  of  the  necessity  of  guarding  the  sacred 
transactions  of  Christianity,  the  embodiment  of  its  deepest  mys- 
teries, against  profanation  in  the  midst  of  the  hostile  world,  accord- 
ing to  Matt.  vii.  6 ;  especially  when  after  Adrian,  perhaps  even, 
from  the  time  of  Nero,  those  transactions  came  to  be  so  shamefully- 
misunderstood  and  slandered.  To  this  must  be  added  a  proper- 
regard  for  modesty  and  decency  in  the  administration  of  baptism 
by  immersion.  And  finally,  the  institution  of  the  order  of  cate- 
chumens led  to  a  distinction  of  half-Christians  and  full-Christians, 
exoteric  and  esoteric,  and  this  distinction  gradually  became 
established  in  the  liturgy.  With  the  catechumens,  therefore, 
or  with  the  general  use  of  infant  baptism  and  the  union  of  church 
and  state,  disappeared  also  the  secret  discipline  in  the  sixth,  and 
seventh  centuries :  cessante  causa  cessat  efiectus.  The  Eastern' 
church  alone  has  retained  in  her  liturgies  to  this  day  the  ancient 
forms  for  the  dismission  of  catechumens  and  the  special  prayers, 
for  them ;  though  she  also  has  for  centuries  had  no  catechumens 


'  The  learned  Jesuit  Emanuel  von  Schelstrate  first  used  this  argument,  in  1 678'; 
but  he  was  soon  thoroughly  answered  by  the  Lutheran  W.  Ernst  Tenzel,  in  hisCisserfe 
de  disc,  arcani,  Lips.  1683  and  1692. 

2  Comp.  §  62. 

25 


386  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

in  the  old  sense  of  tlie  word,  that  is  Heathen  or  Jewish  disciples 
preparing  for  baptism,  except  in  rare  cases  of  exception,  or  on 
missionary  ground. 

§  102.     The  Eucharist. 

Besides  the  literature  at  §  38,  comp.  Hufling  :  Die  Lehre  der  altesten  Kirche 
vom  Opfer  iin  Leben  u.  Cultus  der  Cliristen.  Erl.  1851.  On  the  Eucha- 
ristic  doctrine  of  Ignatius,  Justin,  Irenaeus,  and  TertuUian,  there  are  also 
special  treatises  by  Thiersch  (1841),  Semisch  (1842),  Engelhardt  (1842), 
Baur  (1839  and  1857),  and  others. 

1.  The  DOCTRINE,  concerning  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  not  coming  into  special  controversy  in  the  period  before 
us,  remained  indefinite  and  obscure.  The  ancient  church  made 
more  account  of  the  worthy  participation  of  the  ordinance  than 
of  the  logical  apprehension  of  it.  She  looked  upon  it  as  the 
holiest  mystery  of  the  Christian  worship,  and  accordingly  cele- 
brated it  with  the  deepest  devotion,  without  inquiring  particu- 
larly into  the  mode  of  Christ's  presence  and  of  the  believer's 
partaking  of  him,  in  the  ordinance,  nor  into  the  relation  of  the 
sensible  signs  to  his  flesh  and  blood.  It  is  unliistorical  to  carry- 
any  of  the  later  theories  back  into  this  age ;  as  is  nevertheless 
done  frequently  by  all  confessions  in  the  apologetic  and  polemic 
discussion  of  this  subject. 

Of  the  apostolic  fathers  Ignatius  alone,  the  champion  of  old 
Catholic  episcopacy,  speaks  of  the  Eucharist,  in  two  passages  of 
the  Greek  text ;  more  in  the  way  of  allusion,  but  in  very  strong, 
mystical  terms,  calling  it  the  flesh  of  our  crucified  and  risen  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  consecrated  bread  a  medicine  of  immor- 
tality and  an  antidote  of  spiritual  death.^  This  view,  closely 
connected  with  his  high-churchly  tendency  in  general,  no  doubt 

'  Ad  Smyrn.  c.  7 ;  against  the  Docctists,  who  deny  r(>  £WY<»p'o-i"i'ai'  aapKa  tliai  rov 
GMTnpof  hi^'ov  'I.  Xp.,  <f.  T    X.;  and  Ad  Ephes.  c.  20:  "Oj  (sc.  uproj)  ccnv  (jidpfiaKov 

li^iii'aoiiii,  dfTtiiiTni    rov  ^tti    t'nTo^avcXv,  dWa    {jji/    iv    'I;)<rnt)    Xpiorto  (!iu  irniTiis.      Both    pas- 

SHfjes  are  wanting  in  the  Sjriac  version.  But  the  first  is  cited  by  Thoodorct,  Dial. 
III.  p.  2:31,  and  must  therefore  have  been  known  even  in  the  Syrian  church  in  his 
time. 


§   102.      THE   EUCHAEIST,  887 

involves  belief  in  tlie  real  presence,  and  ascribes  to  tlie  boly  sup- 
per an  effect  on  spirit  and  body  at  once,  witb  reference  to  the 
future  resurrection,^  but  is  still  somewbat  obscure,  and  rather  an 
expression  of  elevated  feeling,  than  a  logical  definition.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  Justin  Martjrr,  when  he  compares  the 
descent  of  Christ  into  the  consecrated  elements  to  his  incarna- 
tion for  our  redemption.^  Irenaeus  says  repeatedly,  in  combat- 
ing the  Grnostic  Docetism,^  that  bread  and  wine  in  the  sacrament 
became,  by  the  presence  of  the  "Word  of  Grod,  and  by  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  that  the 
receiving  of  them  strengthens  soul  and  body  (the  germ  of  the 
resurrection  body)  unto  eternal  life.  Yet  this  would  hardly 
warrant  our  ascribing  either  transubstantiation  or  consubstan- 
tiation  to  Irenaeus.  For  in  another  place  he  calls  the  bread  and 
wine,  after  consecration,  "antitypes,"  implying  the  continued  dis- 
tinction of  their  substance  from  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.* 
This  expression  in  itself,  indeed,  might  be  understood  as  merely 
contrasting  here  the  Supper,  as  the  substance,with  the  Old  Testa- 
ment passover,  its  type ;  as  Peter  calls  baptism  the  antitype  of  the 
saving  water  of  the  flood.^  But  the  connexion,  and  the  usus 
hquendi  of  the  earlier  Greek  fathers,  require  us  to  take  the  term 
antitype  in  the  sense  of  type,  or,  more  precisely,  as  the  antithesis 
of  archetype.     The  bread  and  wine  represent  and  exhibit  the 

■  Comp.  Jno.  vi.  54 

*  Apol.  I.  66.  Here  also  occurs  already  the  terra  /xcrapoXij,  which  some  Roman 
controversialists  use  at  once  as  an  argument  for  transubstantiation.  Justin  says :  'E| 

ris  (i.  e.  Tpo<prji)  tuna  Kal  aapKeg  Kara  ^£ra/?u>ii'   rpiipnuTai    lifiwv^    eX   qUO   alimentO   Sanguis 

et  carnes  nostrae  per  mutationem  aluntur.  But  according  to  the  context,  this  de- 
notes by  no  means  a  transmutation  of  the  elements,  but  either  the  assimilation  of 
them  to  the  body  of  the  receiver,  or  the  operation  of  them  upon  the  bodj',  with  refer- 
ence to  the  future  resurrection.  Comp.  Jno.  vi.  54  sqq.,  and  like  passages  in  Igna- 
tius and  Irenaeus. 

'  Adv.  haer.  IV.  18,  and  passim. 

^  In  the  second  of  the  Fragments  discovered  by  Pfaff  (0pp.  Iren.  ed.  Stieren,  voL 
I.  p.  855),  which  Maffei  and  other  Roman  divines  have  unwarrantably  declared  spu- 
rious. It  is  there  said,  that  the  Christians,  after  the  offering  of  the  eucharistic  sacri- 
fice, call  upon  the  Holy  Ghost,  oVms  diTO<pfivri  rnv  ^vaiav  rairriv  Koi  Tov  aprov  aiojia  rov 
XptCTToC,  Ka'i  TO  TTorfipiov  TO  aifia  tov  Xp.,  fi/a  o'l  iisraXaiSovrei  tovtojv  rtji/  livTiTviroiVy  ti's 
diJo-Ews  TtSv  ajjapri'TiV  Kal  rrjs  ^oirjs  alojviov  TV^Ciiatv, 

5  1  Pet  iii.  20,  21. 


388  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

body  and  blood  of  Christ,  as  the  archetype,  and  correspond  to 
them,  as  a  copy  to  the  original.  In  exactly  the  same  sense  it  is 
said  in  Heb.  ix.  24 — comp.  viii.  5, — that  the  earthly  sanctuary  is 
the  antitype,  that  is  the  copy,  of  the  heavenly.  Other  Greek 
fathers  also,  down  to  the  fifth  century,  and  especially  the  author 
of  the  Apostolical  Constitutions,  call  the  consecrated  elements  anti- 
types (sometimes,  like  Theodoretus,  types)  of  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ.i 

A  different  view,  approaching  nearer  the  Reformed,  we  meet 
with  among  the  African  fathers.  Tertullian  makes  the  words 
of  institution :  Hoc  est  corpus  meum,  equivalent  to :  fvjura  cor- 
poris mei,  to  prove  in  opposition  to  Marcion's  docetism,  the 
reality  of  the  body  of  Jesus, — a  mere  phantom  being  capable  of 
no  emblematic  representation .^  This  involves,  at  all  events,  an 
essential  distinction  between  the  consecrated  elements  and  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  in  the  supper.  Yet  he  must  not  be 
understood  as  teaching  a  merely  symbolical  presence  of  Christ ; 
for  in  other  places  Tertullian,  according  to  his  general  realistic 
turn,  speaks  in  almost  materialistic  language  of  an  eating  of  the 
bod}^  of  Christ,  and  extends  the  participation  even  to  the  body 
of  the  receiver.^  Cyprian  likewise  appears  to  favor  a  symbolical 
interpretation  of  the  words  of  institution ;  yet  not  so  clearly.  In 
the  customary  mixing  of  the  wine  with  water  he  sees  a  type  of 
the  union  of  Christ  with  his  church,^  and,  on  the  authority  of  John 

'  Const.  ApOSt.  1.  V.  C.  14:     Tn  avTiTvira  iivarfipia  rnii  rijiiov  aio/jiaTOf  airnv  Kin  iii/ifiros  ; 

FO  VI.  30,  and  in  a  eucharistic  prayer,  VII.  25.  Other  passages  of  the  Greek  fathers 
see  in  Stieren,  1.  c.,  p.  884  sq.  Comp  also  Bleek's  learned  remarks  on  Heb.  viii.  5, 
and  ix.  24. 

*  Adv.  Marc.  IV.  40;  and  likewise  III.  19.  This  interpretation  is  plainly  very 
near  that  of  (Ecolampadius,  who,  in  fact,  attached  no  small  weight  to  this  authority. 
But  the  Zwinglian  view,  whicli  puts  the  figure  in  the  can,  instead  of  the  predicate, 
appears  also  in  Tertullian,  Adv.  Marc.  I.  14,  in  the  words:  Panem  qui  ipsum  corpus 
suum  repra&sentai. 

3  Do  resur.  carni.",  c.  8,  Caro  corporo  ct  sanguine  Christi  vcscitur,)it  ct  anima  do 
Deo  saginetur.  Do  pudic.  c.  9,  ho  refers  the  fatted  calf,  in  the  parable  of  the  prodi- 
gal son,  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  says :  Opimitato  Dominici  corporis  vescitur,  eucha- 
ri.stia  scilicet  De  orat.  c.  6:  Quod  et  corpus  Chrisli  in  pane  ccnsetur;  which  should 
probably  be  translated : — is  to  be  understood  by  the  bread  (not  contained  in  the  bread). 

*  For  this  reason  he  considers  the  mixing  essential.  Epist.  63  (ed.  Bal.)  c.  13:  Si 
vinum  tautum  quis  offerat,  sanguis  Christi  incipit  esse  sine  nobis;  si  vcro  aqua  sit 


§   102.   THE   EUCHARIST.  389 

vi.  53,  holds  the  communion  of  the  supper  indispensable  to  sal- 
vation. The  idea  of  a  sacrifice  comes  out  very  boldly  in  Cy- 
prian, 

The  Alexandrians  are  here,  as  usual,  decidedly  spiritualistic. 
Clement  twice  expressly  calls  the  wine  a  symbol  or  an  allegory 
of  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  says,  that  the  communicant  receives 
not  the  physical,  but  the  spiritual  blood,  the  life,  of  Christ ;  as, 
indeed,  the  blood  is  the  life  of  the  body.  Origen  distinguishes 
still  more  definitely  the  earthly  elements  from  the  heavenly 
bread  of  life,  and  makes  it  the  whole  design  of  the  supper  to  feed 
the  soul  with  the  divine  word.^  Applying  his  unsound  alle- 
gorical method  here,  he  makes  the  bread  represent  the  Old 
Testament,  the  wine  the  New,  and  the  breaking  of  the  bread 
the  multiplication  of  the  divine  word !  But  these  were  rather 
private  views  for  the  initiated,  and  can  hardly  be  taken  as  pre- 
senting the  doctrine  of  the  Alexandrian  church. 

~VVe  have,  therefore,  among  the  ante-Nicene  fathers,  three 
different  views,  an  Oriental,  an  African,  and  an  Alexandrian. 
The  first  view,  that  of  Ignatius  and  Irenaeus,  agrees  most  nearly 
with  the  mystical  character  of  the  celebration  of  the  eucharist, 
and  with  the  catholicizing  features  of  the  age. 

2.  The  eucharist  as  a  sacrifice.  This  point  is  very  impor- 
tant in  relation  to  the  doctrine,  and  still  more  important  in  rela- 
tion to  the  cultus  and  life,  of  the  ancient  church.  The  Lord's 
supper  was  universally  regarded  not  only  as  a  sacrament,  but 
also  as  a  sacrifice,^  the  true  and  eternal  sacrifice  of  the  new 
covenant,  superseding  all  the  provisional  and  typical  sacrifices 

sola,  plebs  incipit  esse  sine  Cliristo.  Quando  autem  utrumque  miscetur  et  aduna- 
tione  confusa  sibi  invicem  copulatur,  tunc  sacramentum  spirituale  et  coeleste  per- 
ficitur. 

"  Comment,  ser.  in  Matt.  c.  85  (III.  898) :  Panis  iste,  quem  Deus  Vcrbum 
(Logos)  corpus  suum  esse  fatetur,  verbum  est  nutritorium  animarum,  verbum  de 
Deo  Verbo  procedens,  et  panis  de  pani  coelesti.  .  .  .  Non  enim  panem  ilium  visibi- 
lem,  quem  tenebat  in  manibus,  corpus  suum  dicebat  Deus  Verbum,  sed  verbum,  in 
cuius  mj'sterio  fuerat  panis  ille  frangendus.  Then  the  same  of  the  wine.  Origen 
evidently  goes  no  higher  than  the  Zwinglian  theory,  while  Clement  approaches  the 
Calvinistic  view  of  a  spiritual  real  fruition  of  Christ's  life  in  the  eucharist. 

*  Upo(T(popa,  Sufjt'a,  oblatio,  sacrificium. 


390  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

of  the  old  ;  taking  the  place  particularly  of  the  passover,  or  the 
feast  of  the  typical  redemption  from  Egypt.  This  eucharistic 
sacrifice,  however,  the  ante-Nicene  fathers  conceived  not  as  an 
unbloody  repetition  of  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ  on  the 
cross,  but  simply  as  a  commemoration  and  renewed  appropriation 
of  that  atonement,  and,  above  all,  a  thank-offering  of  the  whole 
church  for  all  the  fovors  of  God  in  creation  and  redemption. 
Hence  the  current  name  itself — eucharist ;  which  denoted  in  the 
first  place  the  prayer  of  thanksgiving,  but  afterwards  the  whole 
rite.^  The  consecrated  elements  were  regarded  in  a  twofold 
light,  as  representing  at  once  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  gifts 
of  God,  which  culminated  in  the  self-sacrifice  of  Christ  on  the 
cross.  Hence  the  eucharistic  prayer,  like  that  connected  with 
the  typical  passover,  related  at  the  same  time  to  creation  and 
redemption,  which  were  the  more  closely  joined  in  the  mind  of 
the  church  for  their  dualistic  separation  by  the  Gnostics.  The 
earthly  gifts  of  bread  and  wine  were  taken  as  types  and  pledges 
of  the  heavenly  gifts  of  the  same  God,  who  has  both  created  and 
redeemed  the  world. 

Upon  this  followed  the  idea  of  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  wor- 
shipper himself.  Down  to  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries 
the  eucharistic  elements  were  presented  as  a  thank-offering  by 
the  members  of  the  congregation  themselves,  and  the  remnants 
went  to  the  clergy  and  the  poor.  In  these  gifts  the  people 
yielded  themselves  as  a  priestly  race  and  a  living  thank-offering 
to  God,  to  whom  they  owed  all  the  blessings  alike  of  providence 
and  of  grace. 

This  subjective  offering  of  the  congregation  on  the  ground  of 
the  objective  atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ  is  the  real  centre  of  the 
ancient  Christian  worship,  and  particularly  of  the  communion. 
It  thus  differed  both  from  the  later  Catholic  mass,  which  has 
changed  the  thank-offering  into  a  sin-ofiering,  and  from  the  com- 
mon Protestant  cultus,  which,  in  opposition  to  the  Koman  mass, 

'  So  among  the  Jews  the  cup  of  wine  at  the  pascal  suppor  was   call"l    z'i'S 

«-j>-'-)3|-[     Tzornoiuv  tiXoyi'dj  =  cv^apiariaf,  COtlip.  1  CoF.  X.  IG. 


§    102.      THE  EUCHARIST.  391 

has  almost  entirely  banished  the  idea  of  sacrifice  from  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Lord's  supper. 

The  writers  of  the  second  century  keep  strictly  within  the 
limits  of  the  notion  of  a  thank-oWermg.  Thus  Justin  says 
expressly,  prayers  and  thanksgivings  alone  are  the  true  and 
acceptable  sacrifices,  which  the  Christians  offer.  Irenaeus  has 
been  brought  as  a  witness  for  the  Roman  doctrine,  only  on  the 
ground  of  a  flilse  reading.^  The  African  fathers,  in  the  third 
century,  who  elsewhere  incline  to  the  symbolical  interpretation 
of  the  words  of  institution,  are  the  first  to  approach  on  this 
point  the  later  Roman  idea  of  a  sin-offering  ;  especially  Cyprian, 
the  steadfast  advocate  of  priesthood  and  of  episcopal  authority.^ 
The  ideas  of  priesthood,  sacrifice,  and  altar,  are  intimately  con- 
nected, and  a  Judaizing  conception  of  one  must  extend  to  all. 

3.  The  CELEBRATION  of  the  eucharist.  Of  this  Justin  Martyr^ 
gives  the  following  description,  which  still  bespeaks  the  primi- 
tive simplicity :  "  After  the  prayers  (of  the  catechumen  worship) 
we  greet  one  another  with  the  brotherly  kiss.  Then  bread  and 
a  cup  with  water  and  wine  are  handed  to  the  president  (bishop) 
of  the  brethren.  He  receives  them,  and  offers  praise,  glory,  and 
thanks  to  the  Father  of  all,  through  the  name  of  the  Son  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  for  these  his  gifts.  When  he  has  ended  the  prayers 
and  thanksgiving,  the  whole  congregation  responds:  Amen. 
For  amen  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  means :  Be  it  so.  Upon  this 
the  deacons,  as  we  call  them,  give  to  each  of  those  present  some 
of  the  blessed  bread,*  and  of  the  wine  mingled  with  water,  and 

•  Adv.  liaer.  IV.  c.  18,  §  4:  Verbum  (the  Logos)  quod  offertur  Deo;  instead  of 
which  should  be  read,  according  to  other  manuscripts :  Verbum  per  quod  offertur, 
— whicli  suits  the  connexion  raucli  better.  Comp.  IV.  17,  §  6:  Per  Jes.  Christum 
offert  ecclesia.  Stieren  reads  Verbum  quod,  but  refers  it  not  to  Christ,  but  to  the 
word  of  the  prayer.  The  passage  is,  at  all  events,  too  obscure  and  too  isolated  to 
build  a  dogma  upon. 

*  Epist.  63  ad  Caecil.  c.  14 :  Si  Jesus  Christus,  Dominus  et  Deus  noster,  ipse  est 
suramus  sacerdos  Dei  Patris  et  sacrificium  Patri  seipsum  primus  obtulit  et  hoe  fieri 
in  sui  commemorationem  praecepit :  utique  ille  sacerdos  vice  Ghristi  vere  fungitur, 
qui  id,  quod  Christus  fecit,  imitalur  et  sacrificium  verum  et  plenum  tunc  offert  in 
ecclesia  Dei  Patri,  si  sic  incipiat  ofi'ere,  secundum  quod  ipsum  Christum  videat 
obtulisse. 

'  Apol.  I.  c.  65,  66  (ed.  Otto,  I.  154).  *  Kixac'CTn^ivTos  Uprov. 


892  SECOND   PERIOD,    A.D.    100-811. 

carry  it  to  the  absent  in  their  dwellings.  This  food  is  called 
with  us  the  eucharist,  of  which  none  can  partake,  but  the 
believing  and  baptized,  who  live  according  to  the  commands  of 
Christ.  For  we  use  these  not  as  common  bread  and  common 
drink ;  but  like  as  Jesus  Christ  our  Kedcemer  was  made  flesh 
through  the  word  of  God,  and  took  upon  liim  flesh  and  blood  for 
our  redemption ;  so  we  are  taught,  that  the  nourishment  blessed 
by  the  word  of  prayer,  by  which  our  flesh  and  blood  are 
nourished  by  transformation  (assimilation),  is  the  flesh  and  blood 
of  the  incarnate  Jesus."  Then  he  relates  the  institution  from  the 
Gospels,  and  mentions  the  customary  collections  for  the  poor. 

We  are  not  warranted  in  carrying  back  to  this  period  the  full 
liturgical  service,  which  we  find  prevailing  with  striking  unifor- 
mity in  essentials,  though  with  many  variations  in  minor  points, 
in  all  quarters  of  the  church  in  the  Nicene  age.  A  certain  sim- 
plicity and  freedom  characterized  the  period  before  us.  Even 
the  so-called  Clementine  liturgj^,  in  the  seventh  book  of  the 
pseudo- Apostolical  Constitutions,  was  probably  not  composed 
and  written  out  in  this  form  before  the  fourth  century.  Yet  by 
the  third  century  a  tolerably  uniform  practice  must  have  arisen 
and  spread  by  oral  tradition ;  otherwise  the  later  liturgies  were 
historically  unaccountable. 

From  scattered  statements  of  the  ante-Nicene  fathers  we  may 
gather  the  following  view  of  the  eucharistic  service  a's  it  may 
have  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  if  not  earlier. 

The  communion  was  a  regular  part,  and  in  flict  the  most  im- 
portant and  solemn  part,  of  the  Sunday  worship ;  or  it  was  the 
worship  of  God  in  the  stricter  sense,  in  which  none  but  full  mem- 
bers of  the  church  could  engage.  In  many  places  and  by  many 
Christians  it  was  celebrated  even  daily,  after  apostolic  precedent, 
and  according  to  the  very  common  mystical  interpretation  of 
the  fourth  petition  of  the  Lord's  prayer,^     The  service  began, 


1  Cyprian  speaks  of  daily  sacrifices.  Ep.  54:  Sacordotes  qui  sacrifioia  Dei  qnotidie 
celebra:nus.  So  Ambrose,  Ep.  14  ad  MareelL,  and  the  oldest  liturjiical  works.  But 
that  the  observance  was  various,  is  certified  by  Augustine,  among  others,  Ep.  118 
ad  Jannar.  c.  2 :  Alii  quotidie  connnunicant  corpori  et  sanguini  Dominico ;  alii  certis 


§   102.      THE   EUCHARIST.  393 

after  tlie  dismission  of  the  catechumens,  with  the  kiss  of  peace, 
given  by  the  men  to  men,  and  by  the  women  to  women,  in  token 
of  mutual  recognition  as  members  of  one  redeemed  family  in  the 
midst  of  a  heartless  and  loveless  world.  The  service  proper  con- 
sisted of  two  principal  acts :  the  oblation,^  or  presenting  of  the 
offerings  of  the  congregation  by  the  deacons  for  the  ordinance 
itself,  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  clergy  and  the  poor;  and  the 
communmi^  or  partaking  of  the  consecrated  elements.  In  the 
oblation  the  congregation  at  the  same  time  presented  itself  as  a 
living  thank-offering ;  as  in  the  communion  it  appropriated  anew 
in  faith  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  and  united  itself  anew  with  its 
Head,  Both  acts  were  accompanied  and  consecrated  by  prayer 
and  songs  of  praise.  In  the  prayers  we  must  distinguish,  first, 
the  general  thanksgiving^  the  eucharist  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the 
word,  for  all  the  natural  and  spiritual  gifts  of  God,  commonly 
ending  with  the  seraphic  hymn,  Isa.  vi.  3 ;  secondly,  the  prayer 
of  consecration^  or  the  invocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost '^  upon  the 
people  and  the  elements,  usually  accompanied  by  the  recital  of 
the  words  of  institution  and  the  Lord's  prayer ;  and  finally,  the 
general  intercessions  for  all  classes,  especially  for  the  believers,  on 
the  ground  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  on  the  cross  for  the  salvation 
of  the  world.  The  length  and  order  of  the  prayers,  however, 
were  not  uniform ;  nor  the  position  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  which 
sometimes  took  the  place  of  the  prayer  of  consecration.  The 
congregation  responded  from  time  to  time,  according  to  the 
ancient  Jewish  and  the  apostolic  usage,^  with  an  audible  "Amen" 


diebus  accipiunt;    alibi  nullus  dies  intermittitur  quo  non  offeratur;    alibi  sabbato 
tantum  et  dominico  ;  alibi  tantum  domiuico. 

'  Wui>a(j)up'i. 

2  'Eirt''cX»)(ri{  Tuv  Ylv.  'Ay.  Irenaeus  derives  this  invocatio  Spiritus  S.,  as  well  as  the 
oblation  and  the  thanksgiving,  from  apostolic  instruction.  See  the  2nd  fragment, 
already  cited,  in  Stieren  I.  854.  It  appears  in  all  the  Greek  liturgies.  In  the 
Liturgia  Jacobi  it  reads  thus :  Kal  i^aTzoaTtiXov  ip^  /(^us  koI  im  ra  npo'JKdfi.tva  Soipa  Tav- 
Ta  TO  iLvtvua  aov  to  Trui'ayioi',  to  kvpiov  koI  ^oiunciov  .  .  .  tea  ,  .  .  aytarrr)  Kal  TToifjaij  tov  jitv 
aprov  rovToi/  (rcofia  ayiov  tov  ^piaTov  aov,  Kal  ro  noTriptov  tovto  aifia  Tiftiov  tov  Xp,  aov,  "va 
yii/t}Tai  ndai  tois  £|  avTuiv  iitTaXafiPavovaw  et;  afeatv  afiapTiun'  Kal  ti'j  fui/i'  aidviov,  £i'j  ayiaa- 
uov  ipv^wv  /CO!  (TWjuura)!',  eis  KapTTo(popiav  cpy(ov  dyaScov. 

3  Comp.  1  Cor.  xiv.  16 


894  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

or  "  Kyrie  eleison."  The  "  Sursum  corda,"  also,  as  an  incite- 
ment to  devotion,  with  the  response,  "  Ilabemus  ad  Dominum," 
appears  at  least  as  early  as  Cyprian's  time,  who  expressly  alludes 
to  it.  The  elements  were  common  ^  or  leavened  bread  (except 
among  the  Ebionites,  who,  like  the  later  Roman  church  from 
the  seventh  centur)^,  used  unleavened  bread),  and  wine  mingled 
with  water.  This  mixing  was  a  general  custom  in  antiquity, 
but  came  now  to  have  various  mystical  meanings  attached  to  it. 
The  elements  were  placed  in  the  hands  (not  in  the  mouth)  of 
each  communicant  by  the  clergy  who  were  present,  or,  according 
to  Justin,  by  the  deacons  alone,  amid  singing  of  psalms  by  the 
congregation  (Psalm  xxxiv.),  with  the  words:  "The  body  of 
Christ;"  "The  blood  of  Christ,  the  cup  of  life;"  to  each  of 
which  the  recipient  responded  "Amen."^  The  whole  congrega- 
tion thus  received  the  elements,  standing  in  the  act.^  Thanks- 
giving and  benediction  concluded  the  celebration. 

After  the  public  service  the  deacons  carried  the  consecrated 
elements  to  the  sick  and  those  who  were  in  prison.  Many  took 
portions  of  the  bread  home  with  them,  to  use  in  the  family  at 
morning  prayer.  This  domestic  communion  was  practised  par- 
ticularly in  North  Africa,  and  furnishes  the  first  example  of  a 
communio  sub  una  specie.  In  the  same  country,  in  Cyprian's 
time,  we  find  the  custom  of  infant  communion  (administered 

1  Koii/of  (iprof,  saj'S  Justin,  while  in  view  of  its  sacred  import  he  Ciills  it  also 
uncommon  bread  and  drink.  The  use  of  leavened  or  unleavened  bread  became 
afterwards,  as  is  well  known,  a  point  of  controversy  between  the  Roman  and  Greek 
churches. 

2  This  simplest  form  of  distribution,  "  Ew/^a  XoKTroC,"  and  "  \ '  Xn.,  -r-i-Onr  .r  ftoijs," 
occurs  in  the  Clementine  liturgy  of  the  Apostolic  Constitution;?,  VIII.  13,  and  seems 
to  be  the  oldest. 

3  The  .standing  posture  of  the  congregation  during  the  principal  pra3'ers,  and  in 
the  communion  itself,  seems  to  have  been  at  first  universal.  For  this  was,  indeed, 
the  custom  alwaj-s  on  the  day  of  the  resurrection  in  distinction  from  Friday  (stantes 
cramus,  q\iod  est  signum  resurrectionis,  says  Augustine);  besides,  the  conmiunion 
was,  in  the  highest  sense,  a  ceremony  of  festivity  and  joy;  and  finally,  Justin 
expressly  observes:  "Then  we  all  stand  up  to  prayer."  After  the  twelfth  century, 
kneeling  in  receiving  the  elements  became  general,  and  pns.scd  from  the  Catholic 
church  into  the  Lutheran  and  Anglican,  while  most  of  tiie  Reformed  churches  returned 
to  the  original  custom  of  standing.  Sitting  in  the  communion  was  first  introduced 
aft;er  the  reformation  by  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Scotland. 


§    103.      BAPTISM,    AND   CATECHETICAL   INSTRUCTION".        ',95 

witli  wine  alone),  wliicli  was  justified  from  John  vi.  53,  an(  lias 
continued  in  tHe  Greek  (and  Eussian)  cliurcli  to  this  day,  th(>ugh 
irreconcilable  with  the  apostles'  requisition  of  a  preparatory 
examination.^ 

4.  At  first  the  communion  was  joined  with  a  love  feast, 
and  was  then  celebrated  in  the  evening,  in  memory  of  the  last 
supper  of  Jesus  with  his  disciples.  But  so  early  as  the  I  egin- 
ning  of  the  second  century  these  two  exercises  were  separated, 
and  the  communion  was  placed  in  the  morning,^  the  lov«3  feast 
in  the  evening.  Tertullian  gives  a  detailed  description  of  the 
latter  in  refutation  of  the  calumnies  of  the  heathens.  But  the 
growth  of  the  churches  and  the  rise  of  manifold  abuses  led  to 
the  gradual  disuse,  and  in  the  fourth  century  even  to  the  formal 
prohibition,  of  the  agape,  which  belonged  in  fact  only  to  th*^ 
childhood  and  first  love  of  the  church. 

§  103.  Baptism  and  Catechetical  Instruction.     Confirmation. 

Comp.  the  literature  at  §  37,  particularly  the  work  of  Hofling. 

1.  The  IDEA  of  baptism.  This  ordinance  was  regarded  in  the 
ancient  church  as  the  sacrament  of  conversion  and  regeneration, 
as  the  solemn  rite  of  initiation  into  the  Christian  church,  admit- 
ting to  all  her  benefits  and  committing  to  all  her  obligations. 
Its  effect  was  supposed  to  consist  in  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and 
the  communication  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Justin  calls  it  "the 
water-bath  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  regeneration, "^  and 
"the  bath  of  conversion  and  the  knowledge  of  God."  It  is 
often  called  also  illumination,^  spiritual  circumcision,  anointing, 
sealing,  gift  of  grace,  symbol  of  redemption,  death  of  sins,  &c. 
Tertullian  describes  its  effect  thus :  "  When  the  soul  comes  to 
faith,  and  becomes  transformed  through  regeneration  by  water 

'  1  Cor.  xi.  28. 

'  Yet  on  Maunday-Thursday,  according  to  Augnstine's  testimony,  the  commu- 
nion continued  to  be  celebrated  in  the  evening,  "  tamquam  ad  insigniorem  comme- 
morationem."  So  on  high  feasts  and  in  fasting  seasons.  See  Ambrose,  Serm.  viiL 
in  Ps.  1 18. 

'  Comp.  Tit.  iii.   5.  *  $wri(T/<df,  ^curnr/ia. 


396  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

and  power  from  above,  it  discovers,  after  the  veil  of  the  old  cor- 
ruption is  taken  away,  its  whole  light.  It  is  received  into  the 
fellowship  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  and  the  sou],  which  unites  itself 
to  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  followed  by  the  body."  He  already  leans 
towards  the  notion  of  a  magical  operation  of  the  baptismal 
water.  Yet  the  subjective  condition  of  repentance  and  faith  was 
universally  required.  Baptism  was  not  only  an  act  of  God.  but 
at  the  same  time  the  most  solemn  surrender  of  the  man  to  God, 
a  vow  for  life  and  death,  to  live  henceforth  only  to  Christ,  and 
his  people.  The  keeping  of  this  vow  was  the  condition  of  con- 
tinuance in  the  cliurch ;  the  breaking  of  it  must  be  followed 
either  by  repentance  or  excommunication. 

From  Jno.  iii.  5,  Tertullian  and  others  argued  the  necessity  of 
baptism  to  salvation.  Clement  of  Alexandria  supposed  with 
Hermas,  that  even  the  saints  of  the  Old  Testament  were  baptized 
by  the  apostles  in  Hades.  But  exception  was  made  in  favor  of 
the  bloody  baptism  of  martyrdom,  as  compensating  the  want  of 
baptism  with  water ;  and  thenceforth  the  principle  was  established, 
that  not  the  unavoidable  omission,  but  only  the  contempt  of  this 
sacrament,  is  damning.^ 

The  effect  of  baptism,  however,  was  thought  to  extend  only  to 
sins  committed  before  receiving  it.  Hence  the  frequent  post- 
ponement of  the  sacrament,^  which  Tertullian  very  earnestly 
recommends,  though  he  censures  it  when  accompanied  with 
moral  levity  and  presumption.^  Many,  like  Constantino  the 
Great,  put  it  off  to  the  bed  of  sickness  and  of  death.  They  pre- 
ferred the  risk  of  dying  unbaptized  to  that  of  forfeiting  for  ever 
the  baptismal  grace. 

But  then  the  question  arose,  how  the  forgiveness  of  sins  com- 
mitted after  baptism  could  be  obtained?  This  is  the  starting 
point  of  the  Roman  doctrine  of  the  sacrament  oi penance.  Tertul 
lian*  and  Cyprian^  were  the  first  to  suggest  that  satisfaction  must 


*  Non  defectus,  scd  contemtus  sacramenti  damnat.  '  Procrastinatio  baptismi. 

3  So  the  autlior  of  tho  Apost.  Constit.  VI.  15,  disapproves  those  who  say:  "Ore 

^  Do  poenitentia.  *  Do  ooere  et  eleemosynis. 


§   103.      BAPTISM,    AND   CATECHETICAL   INSTRUCTION.      397 

be  made  for  such  sins  by  self-imposed  penitential  exercises  and 
good  works,  sucli  as  prayers  and  almsgiving.  TertuUian  held 
seven  gross  sins,  wbich  he  denoted  mortal  sins,  to  be  unpardonable 
after  baptism,  and  to  be  left  to  the  uncovenanted  mercies  of  God ; 
but  the  Catholic  church  took  a  milder  view,  and  even  received 
back  the  adulterers  and  apostates  on  their  public  repentance. 

2.  Preparation  for  baptism,  or  the  Catechumenate.  This 
was  a  very  important  institution  of  the  early  church.  As  the 
church  was  set  in  the  midst  of  a  heathen  world,  and  addressed 
herself  in  her  missionary  preaching  in  the  first  instance  to  the 
adult  generation,  she  saw  the  necessity  of  preparing  the  suscepti- 
ble for  baptism  by  special  instruction  under  teachers  called  cate- 
chists,  who  were  generally  presbyters  and  deacons.^  The  cate- 
chumenate thus  preceded  baptism  (of  adults) ;  whereas,  at  a  later 
period,  after  the  general  introduction  of  infant  baptism,  it  fol- 
lowed. It  was,  on  the  one  hand,  a  bulwark  of  the  church  against 
unworthy  members ;  on  the  other,  a  bridge  from  the  world  to  the 
church,  a  Christian  novitiate,  to  lead  beginners  forward  to  matu- 
rity. The  catechumens  or  hearers^  were  regarded  not  as  unbe- 
lievers, but  as  half-christians,  and  were  accordingly  allowed  to 
attend  all  the  exercises  of  worship,  except  the  celebration  of  the 
sacrament.^  They  embraced  people  of  all  ranks,  ages,  and  grades 
of  culture,  even  philosophers,  statesmen,  and  rhetoricians, — Jus- 
tin, Athenagoras,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  TertuUian,  Cj^prian, 
Arnobius,  Lactantius,  who  all  embraced  Christianity  in  their 
adult  years.  In  the  third  century  they  were  divided  into  three 
classes.^  The  catechetical  school  of  Alexandria  was  particularly 
renowned  for  its  highly  learned  character.'^  The  duration  of  this 
catechetical  instruction  was  fixed  sometimes  at  two  years,  some- 
times at  three,  but  might  be  shortened  according  to  circum- 
stances. 

3.  The  CELEBRATION  of  baptism.     Of  this  also  Justin  gives 

^  KarrixriTai,  doctores  audientiutn. 

2  KaTri)(^ovitti'ot,  dtrpjarai,  auditores,  audientes,  3  Comp.  §  lOL 

*  'AKpo<'>iicvoi,  or  audientes;    yowKXimvTcs,  or  genuflectentes ;    and  fj>wTt^6^tvot,  or 
competentes. 
»  Comp.  §  126. 


3US  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

tlie  following  brief  account  :^  "  Those  wlio  are  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  our  doctrine,  and  have  promised  to  live  according  to  it, 
are  exhorted  to  prayer,  fasting,  and  repentance  for  past  sins  ;  we 
praying  and  fasting  with  them.  Then  they  are  led  by  us  to  a 
place  where  is  water,  and  in  this  way  are  regenerated,^  as  we 
also  have  been  regenerated ;  that  is,  they  receive  the  water  bath 
in  the  name  of  God,  the  Father  and  Ruler  of  all,  and  of  our 
Redeemer  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  Christ 
says:  Except  ye  be  born  again,  ye  cannot  enter  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.^  ....  Thus,  from  children  of  necessity  and 
ignorance,  we  become  children  of  choice  and  of  wisdom,  and 

partakers  of  the  forgiveness  of  former  sins The 

baptismal  bath  is  called  also  illumination,  because  those  who 
receive  it  are  enlightened  in  the  understanding." 

This  account  may  be  completed  by  the  following  from  later 
writers : — 

Before  the  act  the  candidate  was  required  in  a  solemn  vow  to 
renounce  the  service  of  the  devil,  that  is,  all  evil,*  give  himself 
to  Christ,  and  confess  the  sum  of  the  apostolic  faith  in  God  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.^  The  apostles'  creed,  therefore, 
is  properly  the  baptismal  symbol,  as  it  grew,  in  fact,  out  of  the 
baptismal  formula.®  This  act  of  turning  from  sin  and  turning  to 
God,  or  of  repentance  and  faith,  on  the  part  of  the  candidate, 
was  followed  by  an  appropriate  prayer  by  the  minister,  and  then 
by  the  bajDtism  itself  in  the  triune  name,  with  either  three  suc- 
cessive immersions,  or  only  a  single  one,  in  which  the  deacons 
and  deaconesses  assisted.     In  exceptional  cases,  of  sick  persons 

'  ApoL  I.,  c.  61,  p.  142.  2  'AvayevvMVTai.  ^  Jno.  iii.  5. 

*  Abrenunciatio  diabolL     Tertullian :  Rcnunciare  diabolo  et  pompae  et  angelia 

ejus.  Const.  ApOSt. :  ^A.KOTd(T(TOftai  tC*  EirmS  Kai  TuTf  ipyoii  airov  Ka\  raif  itn^maXi 
avTov,  Kill    rais  Xurpciuif   airov,  xnt    naai    roT;   in'    avrov.      This  renunciation  of  thc  devil 

was  made,  at  least  in  the  fourth  century,  as  wc  learn  from  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  in  the 
vestibule  of  the  baptistery,  with  the  face  towards  the  west,  and  the  hand  raised  in 
thc  repelling  posture,  as  if  Satan  were  present  (it  napAvTi  aKOTaaatn^t  Earaj'S),  and 
was  sometimes  accompanied  with  oxsufllations,  or  other  signs  of  expulsion  of  the 
evil  spirit. 

5  '0/iu>oyi|iT(5,  professio.  The  creed  was  either  said  by  the  catechumen  after  the 
priest,  or  confessed  in  answer  to  questions,  and  with  the  face  eastward. 

«  Comp.  §  76. 


§    103.      BAPTISM,    AXD   CATECHETICAL   INSTRUCTION.       899 

(and  probably  of  cliildren),  the  water  was  applied  by  affusion  or 
sprinkling.  Many  were  unwilling  to  allow  tbis  *'  baptismus 
clinicorum,"  as  it  was  called,  full  validity;  and  Cyprian  wrote 
in  its  defence.  According  to  ecclesiastical  law  it  at  least  incapa- 
citated for  tlie  clerical  office.  Yet  the  Roman  bishop  Fabian 
ordained  Novatian  a  presbyter,  though  he  had  been  baptized  on 
a  sick-bed  by  sprinkling  alone.  Thanksgiving,  benediction,  and 
the  brotherly  kiss  concluded  the  sacred  ceremony. 

Besides  these  essential  elements  of  the  baptismal  rite,  we 
find,  so  early  as  the  third  century,  several  other  subordinate 
usages,  which  have  indeed  a  beautiful  symbolical  meaning,  but, 
like  all  redundancies,  could  easily  obscure  the  original  simplicity 
of  this  sacrament,  as  it  appears  in  Justin  Martyr's  description. 
Among  these  appendages  are  the  signing  of  the  cross  on  the 
forehead  and  breast  of  the  subject,  as  a  soldier  of  Christ  under 
the  banner  of  the  cross ;  giving  him  milk  and  honey  (also  salt)  in 
token  of  sonship  with  God,  and  citizenship  in  the  heavenly  Canaan. 

Exorcism^  or  the  expulsion  of  the  devil,  which  is  not  to  be 
confounded  with  the  essential  formula  of  renunciation,  was  pro- 
bably practised  at  first  only  in  special  cases,  as  of  demoniacal 
possession.  But  after  the  council  of  Carthage,  A.D.  256,  we 
find  it  a  regular  jDart  of  the  ceremony  of  baptism,  preceding 
the  baptism  proper,  and  in  some  cases,  it  would  seem,  seve- 
ral times  repeated  during  the  course  of  catechetical  instruction. 
To  understand  fully  this  custom,  we  should  remember  that  the 
early  church  derived  the  whole  system  of  heathen  idolatry, 
which  it  justly  abhorred  as  one  of  the  greatest  crimes,^  from  the 
agency  of  Satan.  The  heathen  deities,  although  they  had  been 
eminent  men  during  their  lives,  were,  as  to  their  animating 
principle,  identified  with  demons — either  fallen  angels  or  their 
progeny.  These  demons,  as  we  may  infer  from  many  passages 
of  Justin,  Tertullian,  Minutius  Felix,  and  others,  were  believed 
to  traverse  the  air,  to  wander  over  the  earth,  to  deceive  and 
torment  the  race,  to  take  possession  of  men,  to  encourage  sacri- 

'  Tertullian  calls  it  "  principale  crimen  generia  humani "  (De  idol.  c.  1),  and 
Cyprian,  "summum  delictum"  (Ep.  x.). 


400  SECO^'D   TEKIOD.   A.D.    1(JU-81L 

fices,  to  lurk  in  statues,  to  speak  through  the  oracles,  to  direct 
the  flights  of  birds,  to  work  the  illusions  of  enchantment  and 
necromancy,  to  delude  the  senses  by  false  miracles,  to  incite  per- 
secutiun  against  Christianity,  and,  in  fact,  to  sustain  the  whole 
fabric  of  heathenism  with  all  its  errors  and  vices.  But  even 
these  evil  spirits  were  subject  to  the  powerful  name  of  Jesus. 
Tertullian  openly  challenges  the  pagan  adversaries  to  bring 
demoniacs  before  the  tribunals,  and  affirms  that  the  spirits 
which  possessed  them,  would  bear  witness  to  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

The  institution  of  sponsors,^  first  mentioned  by  Tertullian, 
arose  no  doubt  from  infant  baptism,  and  was  designed  to  secure 
Christian  training,  without  thereby  excusing  Christian  parents 
from  their  duty. 

Baptism  might  be  administered  at  any  time,  but  was  com- 
monly connected  with  Easter  and  Pentecost,  and  in  the  East 
with  Epiphany  also,  to  give  it  the  greater  solemnity.  During 
the  week  following,  the  neophytes  wore  white  garments  as 
symbols  of  their  purity. 

Separate  chapels  for  baptism,  or  baptisteries,  occur  first  in  the 
fourth  century.  Baptism  might  be  performed  in  any  place, 
where,  as  Justin  says,  "  water  was."  Yet  Cyprian,  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  third  century,  and  the  pseudo-Apostolical  Constitu- 
tions, require  the  element  to  be  previously  consecrated,  that  it 
may  become  the  vehicle  of  the  purifying  energy  of  the  Spirit. 
This  corresponded  to  the  consecration  of  the  bread  and  wine  in 
the  supper,  and  involved  no  transformation  of  the  substance. 

4.  Confirmation^  was  originally  closely  connected  with  bap- 
tism, as  its  positive  complement,  and  was  performed  by  the  impo- 
sition of  hands,  and  the  anointing  of  several  parts  of  the  body 
with  fragrant  balsam-oil,  the  chrism,  as  it  was  called.  These 
acts  were  the  medium  of  the  communication  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  of  consecration  to  the  spiritual  priesthood.  Later,  however, 
it  came  to  be  separated  from  baptism,  especially  in  the  case  of 

1  'AvaSoxoi,  sponsorcs,  fidoijussorcs. 

*  L'/ipuyi'j,  X(n<T/<a,  coiilinnatio,  obsignatio,  signacuium. 


§   104.      INFANT  BAPTISM,    AND   HERETICAL   BAPTISM.     401 

infants,  and  to  be  regarded  as  a  sacrament  by  itself.  Cyprian  is 
tlie  first  to  distinguish,  the  baptism  with  water  and  the  baptism 
with  the  Spirit  as  two  sacraments ;  yet  this  term,  sacrament,  was 
used  as  yet  very  indefinitely,  and  applied  to  all  sacred  doctrines 
and  rites.  The  Western  church,  after  the  third  century,  restricted 
the  power  of  confirmation  to  bishops,  on  the  authority  of  Acts 
viii.  17 ;  they  alone,  as  tbe  successors  of  the  apostles,  being  able 
to  impart  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Greek  church  extended  this 
function  to  priests  and  deacons. 

§  104.   Infant  Baptism,  and  Heretical  Baptism. 

On  infant  baptism  comp.  Just.  M.  :  Dial.  c.  Tryph.  Jud.  c.  43.  Iren.  :  Adv. 
haer.  II.  22,  §  4,  compared  with  III.  17,  §  1.  Tertull.  :  De  baptismo,. 
c.  18.  Cypr. :  Epist.  LIX.  ad  Fidum.  Clem.  Alex.:  Paedag.  III.  247. 
Orig.  :  Coram,  in  Rom.  V.  0pp.  IV._565,  and  Homil.  XIV.  in  Lucan. 

On  heretical  baptism  comp.  Euseb.  :  H.  E.  VII.  3-5.  Cypr.  :  Epist.  LXX.- 
LXXVI.  The  Acts  of  the  Council  of  Carthage,  a.d.  256,  and  the  anony- 
mous tract,  De  rebaptismate,  among  Cyprian^s  works,  and  in  Routh's- 
Reliquiae  sacrae,  vol.  v.  283-328. 

1.  During  this  period,  while  the  church  is  still  a  missionary 
institution  in  the  midst  of  a  heathen  world,  infant  baptism  yields 
to  the  baptism  of  adult  proselytes ;  as,  in  the  following  period,, 
upon  the  union  of  church  and  state,  the  order  is  reversed.  At 
that  time,  too,  there  could  of  course  be  no  such  thing,  even  on 
the  part  of  Christian  parents,  as  the  compulsory  baptism,  which, 
dates  from  Justinian's  reign,  and  which  almost  inevitably  leads 
to  frequent  profanation  of  the  sacrament.  The  cases  of  Gregory 
of  Nazianzen,  St.  Chrysostom,  and  St.  Augustine,  who  had 
mothers  of  exemplary  piety,  and  yet  were  not  baptized  before 
early  manhood,  show  sufiiciently  that  considerable  freedom  pre- 
vailed in  this  respect  even  in  the  Nicene  and  post-Nicene  age. 
Gregory  of  Nazianzen^  gives  the  advice  to  put  off  the  baptism 
of  children,  where  there  is  no  danger  of  death,  to  their  third 
year. 

But  at  the  same  time  it  seems  to  us  a  settled  fact,  though  by 

'  Orat.  XL. 

26 


402  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

many  disputed,  that,  with  the  baptism  of  converts,  the  optional 
baptism  of  the  children  of  Christian  parents  in  established  congre- 
gations, comes  down  from  the  apostolic  age.^  Among  the  fathers, 
Tertullian  himself  not  excepted — for  he  combats  only  its  expe- 
diency— there  is  not  a  single  voice  against  the  lawfulness  and 
the  apostolic  origin  of  infant  baptism.  No  time  can  be  fixed 
at  which  it  was  first  introduced.  Tertullian  suggests,  that  it  was 
usually  based  on  the  invitation  of  Christ :  "  Suffer  the  little 
children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not."  The  usage  of 
sponsors,  of  which  Tertullian  himself  bears  witness,  and  still 
more,  the  almost  equally  ancient  abuse  of  infant  communion, 
imply  the  existence  of  infant  baptism.  Heretics  also  practised 
it,  and  were  not  censured  for  it. 

The  apostolic  fathers  make,  indeed,  no  mention  of  it  But 
their  silence  proves  nothing ;  for  they  hardly  touch  upon  bap- 
tism at  all,  except  Uermas,  and  he  declares  it  necessary  to  salva- 
tion, even  for  the  j)atriarchs  in  Hades  (therefore,  as  we  may  well 
infer,  for  children  also).  Justin  Martyr  expressly  teaches  the 
capacity  of  all  men  for  spiritual  circumcision  by  baptism;  and 
■  his  ■rafl'iv  can  with  the  less  propriety  be  limited,  since  he  is  here 
speaking  to  a  Jew,  and  as  he  elsewhere  (in  his  smaller  Apology) 
speaks  of  old  men  who  have  been  from  childhood^  disciples  of 
Christ.  According  to  Irenaeus,  the  faithful  bearer  of  Johannean 
tradition,  Christ  passed  through  all  the  stages  of  life,  to  sanctify 
them  all,  and  came  to  redeem,  through  himself,  "  all  who  through 
him  are  horn  again  unto  God,  sucklings,  children,  boys,  youths, 
and  adults."^  This  profound  view  involves  an  acknowledg- 
ment not  only,  as  is  universally  granted,  of  the  idea  of  infant 
baptism,  but  also  of  the  practice  of  it ;  for  in  the  mind  of  the 
ancient  church  baptism  and  regeneration  were  intimately  con- 

'  Comp.  §  37.  2  'Ek  ra.'Jcor. 

'  Adv.  haor.  II.  22,  §  4 :  Omncs  venit  per  scmctipsum  salvare ;  omncs,  inquam,  qui 
per  eum  renaacuntur  in  Denm,  infantes  et  parvuloa  et  pueros  et  juvenes  et  seniorea. 
Ideo  per  omnem  vciiit  aetatem,  et  infaiitibus  infiins  factus,  sanctificans  infantes;  in 
parvuli.s  parvulus,  sanctificans  linnc  ipsani  liabentes  aetatcni ;  simul  et  excmplum 
illis  pietatis  effectus  et  justitiae  et  aubjcctionis,  in  juvenibus  juvenis,  &c.  Comp.  tlie 
pa.ssage,  III.  17,  §  1,  wlicrc  baptism  is  defined  as  regcneratio  in  Deum. 


§   104.   INFANT  BAPTISM,   AND  HERETICAL  BAPTISM.      403 

nected,  and  by  Irenaeus  liimself,  in  another  passage,  they  axe 
distinctly  identified.  In  an  infant,  in  fact,  any  regeneration  but 
through  baptism  is  inconceivable.  A  moral  regeneration,  as  dis- 
tinct from  sacramental,  would  imply  conversion,  and  this  is  a  con- 
scious act  of  the  will,  an  exercise  of  repentance  and  faith  of  which 
the  infant  is  incapable. 

In  the  churches  of  Egypt  infant  baptism  must  have  been  prac- 
tised from  the  first.  For,  aside  from  some  not  very  clear  expres- 
sions of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Origan  distinctly  derives  it  from 
the  a}>)-;tles;  and  he  liimself,  being  descended  from  Christian 
parents  and  grand-parents,  was  baptized  soon  after  his  birth  in 
185,  and,  through  his  journeys  in  the  east  and  the  west,  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  practice  of  the  church  in  his  time. 

The  only  opponent  of  infant  baptism  is  Tertullian.  He  con- 
demns the  hastening  of  the  innocent  age  to  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,^  and  intrusting  it  with  divine  gifts,  while  we  would  not 
commit  to  it  earthly  property.  Whoever  considers  the  solem- 
nity of  baptism,  will  shrink  more  from  the  receiving,  than  from 
the  postponement  of  it.  But  the  very  manner  of  TertuUian's 
opposition  proves  as  much  in  favor  of  infant  baptism  as  against 
it.  He  meets  it  not  as  an  innovation,  but  as  a  prevalent  custom ; 
and  he  meets  it  not  with  exegetical  nor  historical  argument,  but 
only  with  considerations  of  religious  prudence.  His  opposition 
to  it  is  founded  on  his  erroneous  view  of  the  impossibility  of 
having  mortal  sins  forgiven  in  the  church  after  baptism,  this 
ordinance  cannot  be  repeated,  and  washes  out  only  the  guilt 
contracted  before  its  reception.  On  the  same  ground  he  advises 
healthy  adults,  especially  the  unmarried,  to  postpone  this  sacra- 
ment, until  they  shall  be  no  longer  in  danger  of  forfeiting  for  ever 
the  grace  of  baptism  by  committing  adultery,  murder,  apostasy,  or 
any  other  of  the  seven  crimes  which  he  calls  mortal  sins.  On 
the  same  principle  his  advice  applies  only  to  healthy  children, 

'  "  Quid  festinat  innocens  aetas  ad  remissionera  peccatorum  ?"  The  "  innocens"  here 
is  to  be  taken  only  in  a  relative  sense ;  for  Tertullian  in  other  places  teaches  a  vitium 
originis,  or  hereditary  sin  and  guilt,  although  not  as  distinctly  and  clearly  as  Augus- 
tine. Comp.  the  remarks  on  his  opposition  to  infant  baptism  in  my  Hist,  of  the 
Apost.  Church,  p.  579  sq. 


40-1  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

not  to  sickly  ones,  if  we  consider  that  he  held  baptism  to  be 
the  indispensable  condition  of  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  taught  the 
doctrine  of  hereditary  sin.  With  him  this  position  resulted  from 
moral  earnestness,  from  a  lively  sense  of  the  great  solemnity  of 
the  baptismal  vow.  But  many  put  off  baptism  to  their  death- 
bed, in  moral  levity  and  presumption,  that  they  might  sin  as 
long  as  they  could. 

Tertullian's  opposition,  moreover,  had  no  influence,  at  least 
no  theoretical  influence,  even  in  North  Africa.  His  disciple 
Cyprian  differed  from  him  wholly.  In  his  day  it  was  no  ques- 
tion, whether  the  children  of  Christian  parents  might  and  should 
be  baptized — on  this  all  were  agreed, — ^but  whether  they  might 
be  baptized  so  early  as  the  second  or  third  day  after  birth,  or 
according  to  the  precedent  of  the  Jewish  circumcision,  on  the 
eighth  day.  Cyprian,  and  a  council  of  sixty-six  bishops  held  at  Car- 
thage in  253  under  his  lead,  decided  for  the  earlier  time,  yet  with- 
out condemning  the  delay. ^  It  was  in  a  measure  the  same  view 
of  the  almost  magical  effect  of  the  baptismal  water,  and  of  its 
absolute  necessity  to  salvation,  which  led  Cyprian  to  hasten,  and 
Tertullian  to  postpone  the  holy  ordinance ;  one  looking  more  at 
the  beneficent  effect  of  the  sacrament  in  regard  to  past  sins,  the 
other  at  the  danger  of  sins  to  come. 

II.  Heretical  baptism  was,  in  the  third  century,  the  subject  of 
a  violent  controversy,  important  also  for  its  bearing  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  authority  of  the  Roman  see.^ 

Cyprian,  whose  Epistles  afford  the  clearest  information  on  this 
subject,  followed  Tertullian  in  rejecting  baptism  by  heretics  as 
an  inoperative  mock-ba])tisin,  and  demanded  that  all  heretics 
coming  over  to  the  Catholic  church  be  baptized  (he  would  not 
say  re-baptized).  His  position  here  was  due  to  his  high  church 
exclusivism  and  his  horror  of  schism.  As  the  one  Catholic 
church  is  the  sole  repository  of  all  grace,  there  can  be  no  forgive- 

'  A  later  council  of  Carthage  of  the  year  418  went  further  and  decreed:  Item 
placuit,  ut  quicunque  parvulos  recentes  ab  uteris  niatruni  baptizandoa  uegat . . .  ana- 
thema sit. 

2  Corap  §  109. 


§    10-i.       HERETICAL    EAPTIS:vr.  405 

ness  of  sins,  no  regeneration  or  communication  of  tlie  Spirit,  no 
salvation,  therefore  no  valid  sacraments,  out  of  her  bosom.  So 
far  he  had  logical  consistency  on  his  side.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  departed  from  the  objective  view  of  the  church,  as  the 
Donatists  afterwards  did,  in  making  the  efficacy  of  the  sacrament 
depend  on  the  subjective  holiness  of  the  priest.  "How  can  one 
consecrate  water,"  he  asks,  "  who  is  himself  unholy,  and  has  not 
the  Holy  Ghost?"  He  was  followed  by  the  North  African 
church,  which,  in  several  councils  at  Carthage  in  the  years  255-6, 
rejected  heretical  baptism;  and  by  the  church  of  Asia  Minor, 
which  had  already  acted  on  this  view,  and  now,  in  the  person  of 
the  Cappadocian  bishop  Firmilian,  a  disciple  and  venerator  of 
the  great  Origen,  vigorously  defended  it  against  the  intolerance 
of  Rome. 

The  Roman  bishop  Stephen  (253-257)  appeared  for  the  oppo- 
site doctrine,  on  the  ground  of  the  ancient  practice  of  his  church. 
He  offered  no  argument,  but  spoke  with  the  consciousness  of 
authority,  and  followed  a  catholic  instinct.  He  laid  chief  stress 
on  the  objective  nature  of  the  sacrament,  the  virtue  Cf  which 
depended  neither  on  the  officiating  priest,  nor  on  the  receiver, 
but  solely  on  the  institution  of  Christ.  Hence  he  considered 
heretical  baptism  valid,  provided  only  it  had  been  administered 
in  the  right  form,  to  wit,  in  the  name  of  the  Trinity,  or  even  of 
Christ  alone ;  so  that  heretics  coming  into  the  church  needed  only 
confirmation,  or  the  ratification  of  baptism  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
"  Heresy,"  says  he,  "  produces  children  and  exposes  them ;  and 
the  church  takes  up  the  exposed  children,  and  nourishes  them 
as  her  own,  though  she  herself  has  not  brought  them  forth." 

The  doctrine  of  Cyprian  was  the  more  consistent  from  the 
churchly  point  of  view ;  that  of  Stephen,  from  the  sacramental. 
The  one  preserved  the  principle  of  the  exclusiveness  of  the 
church;  the  other,  that  of  the  objective  force  of  the  sacrament, 
even  to  the  borders  of  the  opus  operatum  theory.  Both  were 
under  the  direction  of  the  same  hierarchial  spirit,  and  the  same 
hatred  of  heretics ;  but  the  Roman  doctrine  is  after  all  a  happy 
inconsistency  of  liberality,  an  inroad  upon  the  principle  of  abso- 


406  SECOND   PERIOD.   AJ).    100-311. 

lute  exclusiveness,  an  involuntary  concession,  that  baptism,  and 
with  it  the  remission  of  sins  and  regeneration,  therefore  salvation, 
are  possible  outside  of  Roman  Catholicism.^ 

The  controversy  itself  was  conducted  with  great  warmth. 
Stej)hen,  though  advocating  the  liberal  view,  showed  the  genuine 
l)apal  arrogance  and  intolerance.  He  would  not  even  admit  to  his 
presence  the  dej)uties  of  Cyprian,  who  brought  him  the  decree  of 
the  African  synod,  and  called  this  bishop,  who  in  every  respect 
far  excelled  Stephen,  and  whom  the  Roman  church  now  venerates 
as  one  of  her  greatest  saints,  a  "pseudochristum,  ^Dscudoapostolum, 
et  dolosum  operarium."^  He  broke  off  all  intercourse  with  the 
African  church,  as  he  had  already  with  the  Asiatic.  But  Cyprian 
and  Firmilian,  nothing  daunted,  vindicated  with  great  boldness, 
the  latter  also  with  bitter  vehemence,  their  different  view,  and 
continued  in  it  to  their  death.  The  Alexandrian  bishop  Diony- 
sius  endeavored  to  reconcile  the  two  parties,  but  with  little  success. 
The  Valerian  persecution,  which  soon  ensued,  and  the  martj-rdom 
of  Stephen  (257)  and  of  Cyprian  (258),  suppressed  this  internal  dis- 
cord. In  the  course  of  the  fourth  century,  however,  the  Roman 
j)ractice  gradually  gained  on  the  other,  was  raised  to  a  doctrine 
of  the  church  by  the  council  of  Nice  in  325,  and  was  afterwards 
confirmed  by  the  council  of  Trent  with  an  anathema  on  the 
opposite  view. 

'  Unless  it  bo  maintained  that  the  baptismal  grace,  if  received  outside  of  the 
Catholic  communion,  becomes  available  only  by  the  subjective  conversion  and  regular 
confirmation  of  the  heretic. 

"  Firmil.  ad  Cyp.,  towards  the  end. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


ORGANIZATION  AND  DISCIPLINE   OF  THE   CHURCH. 


I.  The  chief  sources  for  this  chapter  are  the  Epistles  of  Ignatius,  the  works 

of  Cyprian,  and  the  so-called  Constitutiones  Apostolicae. 

II.  Comp.  the  relevant  sections  in  the  archaeological  works  of  Bingham, 
AuGUSTi,  SiEGEL,  Rheinwald,  Binterim  (R.  C),  Coleman,  &c.  Also,  P. 
King  :  Constit.  of  the  Primitive  Church.  Lond.  1719  (N.  York,  1841). 
A.  MoHLER  (R.  C.) :  Die  Einheit  der  Kirche  oder  das  Princip  des  Katho- 
licismus,  dargestellt  im  Geiste  der  Kirchenvater  der  3  ersten  Jahrh. 
Tiib.  1825.  (2nd  ed.  1843.)  R.  Rothe:  Die  Anfange  der  christlichen 
Kirche  u.  ihrer  Verfassung.  Wittenb.  1837  (I.  311-711).  W.  Palmer: 
Treatise  on  the  Church  of  Christ.  Oxf,  1838.  2  vols,  (also  1842,  and 
reprinted  in  N.  York).  J.  W.  Bickell:  Gesch.  des  Kirchenrechts,  I. 
Frankf.  1849.  F.  C.  Baur:  Das  Christenthum  u.  die  Kirche  der  3 
ersten  Jahrh.  Tiib.  1853,  p.  239-279.  J.  A.  Ritschl:  Die  Entste- 
hung  der  altkathol.  Kirche.  Bonn,  2nd  edit.  1857.  p.  555-583.  John 
Kaye  :  Some  Account  of  the  External  Discipline  and  Government  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  during  the  first  three  Cent.     Lond.  1855. 


§  105.   Clergy  and  Laiiy. 

In  tlie  external  organization  of  the  churcli,  several  important 
changes  appear  in  the  period  before  us.  The  distinction  of 
clergy  and  laity  becomes  prominent  and  fixed  ;  subordinate 
church  offices  are  multiplied ;  the  episcopate  arises ;  the  begin- 
nings of  the  Roman  primacy  appear ;  and  the  exclusive  unity  of 
the  Catholic  church  developes  itself  in  opposition  to  heretics  and 
schismatics.  The  apostolical  organization  of  the  first  century 
now  gives  place  to  the  old  catholic  episcopal  system,  which,  in 
its  turn,  passes  into  the  metropolitan,  and  after  the  fourth  cen- 
tury into  the  patriarchal.     With  this  the  Greek  church  stops, 


408  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

wliile  the  Latin  goes  yet  a  step  further,  and  produces  in  the 
middle  ages  the  absolute  papacy.  The  germs  of  this  papacy 
likewise  betray  themselves  even  in  our  present  period,  particu- 
larly in  Cyprian. 

The  characteristics,  however,  of  the  pre-Constantinian  hier- 
archy, in  distinction  from  the  post-Constantinian,  both  Greek 
and  llornan,  are,  first,  its  grand  simplicity,  and  secondly,  its 
spirituality,  or  freedom  from  all  connexion  with  the  political 
power  and  worldly  splendor.  Tertullian  even  held  it  impossible 
for  an  emperor  to  be  a  Christian,  or  a  Christian  to  be  an 
emperor ;  and  even  after  Constantine,  the  Donatists  persisted  in 
this  view,  and  cast  up  to  the  Catholics  the  memory  of  the  former 
age:  "Quid  Christianis  cum  rcgibus?  aut  quid  episcopis  cum 
palatio?" 

The  idea  and  institution  of  a  special  priesthood,  distinct  from 
the  body  of  the  people,  with  the  accompanying  notion  of  sacri- 
fice and  altar,  passed  imperceptibly  from  the  synagogue,  through 
the  medium  of  Jewish  Christianity,  into  the  church,  to  fulfil 
there  the  mission  of  a  schoolmaster  in  training  the  Christian 
people  to  the  general  priesthood.  Neander  and  other  historians 
see  in  it  an  apostasy  from  the  gospel,  and  a  relapse  into  Juda- 
ism, though  they  can  fix  no  time  for  the  revolution,  nor  more 
definitely  establish  the  fact.  The  New  Testament  unquestion- 
ably teaches  the  universal  priesthood,  as  it  does  the  universal 
kingship,  of  believers,^  and  that  in  a  far  deeper  and  larger  sense 
than  the  Old  f  in  a  sense,  too,  which  even  to  this  day  is  not  yet 
fully  realized.  It  calls  the  entire  body  of  Christians  xX^^oi,  a 
peculiar  pcc)ple,  the  heritage  of  God.^  But  it  presents  also  a 
preaching  oflice,  instituted  by  Christ,  for  the  very  purpose  of 
raising  the  mass  of  believers  from  infancy  and  pupilage  to  inde- 
pendent and  immediate  intercourse  with  God,  to  that  prophetic, 
priestly,  and  kingly  position,  which  in  principle  and  destination 
belongs  to  them  all.*    This  work  is  the  gradual  process  of  church 


>  1  Pet.  ii.  .5,  9.     Rev.  i.  6;  v.  10;  xx.  6.  *  Exod.  ix.  6. 

3  1  Pet.  V.  3.     Comp  Dcut.  iv.  20;  ix.  29,  LXX.  *  Conip.  Epli.  iv.  11-13. 


§    105.      CLERGY  AND   LAITY.  409 

History  itself,  and  will  not  be  accomplished  till  the  kingdom  of 
glory  shall  come.^ 

After  the  gradual  abatement  of  the  extraordinary  spiritual  ele- 
vation of  the  apostolic  age,  which  anticipated  in  its  way  the  ideal 
condition  of  the  church,  the  distinction  of  a  regular  class  of 
teachers  from  the  laity  became  more  fixed  and  prominent.  This 
appears  first  in  Ignatius,  who,  in  his  high  episcopalian  spirit,  con- 
siders the  clergy  the  necessary  medium  of  access  for  the  people  to 
God.  "  Whoever  is  within  the  sanctuary,  is  pure  ;  but  he  who 
does  anything  without  bishop  and  presbytery  and  deacon,  is  not 
pure  in  conscience."^  Even  Clement  of  Rome,  in  other  respects 
very  near  the  evangelical  position  of  Paul,  draws  a  parallel 
between  the  Christian  presiding  office  and  the  Levitical  priest- 
hood,^ and  uses  the  exjjression  Xaixoj  av^puifog  as  antithetic  to  high 
priests,  priests,  and  Levites.  In  the  third  century  it  became  cus- 
tomary to  apply  the  term  priest  directly  and  exclusively  to  the 
Christian  ministers,  especially  the  bishops,^  and  to  call  the  whole 
ministry,  and  it  alone,  Clerus,^  with  a  double  reference  to  its  pre- 
sidency and  its  peculiar  relation  to  God ;  it  was  distinguished  by 
this  name  from  the  Christian  people  or  laity .^  Solemn  consecra- 
tion by  the  laying  on  of  hands^  was  the  form  of  admission  into 
the  ordo  ecclesiasticus  or  sacerdotalis.  In  this  order  itself  there 
were  again  three  degrees,  ordines  majores,  as  they  were  called : 
the  diaconate,  the  presby  terate,  and  the  episcopate — held  to  be  of 
divine  institution.  Under  these  were  the  later  ordines  minores, 
from  sub-deacon  to  ostiary,  which  formed  the  stepping-stone 
between  the  proper  clergy  and  the  people.*     Thus  we  find,  so 

1  Rev.  xs.  6.  2  Ad  Trail,  c.  7.  3  1  Cor.  40-44. 

*  Sacerdos,  also  summus  sacerdos  (Tertullian  De  bapt.  1),  and  once  pontifex  maxi- 
mus  (De  pudic.  1,  with  ironical  reference,  it  seems,  to  the  Roman  bishop),  ordo 
sacerdotalis  (De  exhort,  cast.  7);  upevi  and  sometimes  dp^upci;  (Apost.  Const. 
IL  34,  35,  36,  57  ;  III.  9,  vi.  15,  18,  &c.).  Hippol)'tus  calls  his  office  an  dpxiepaTc'ia 
and  S'SaaKa\ia  (Ref.  haer.  I.  prooem.).  Cyprian  generally  applies  the  term  sacer- 
dos to  the  bishop,  and  calls  his  colleagues  consacerdotales. 

5  KXnpoi,  Tiifif,  ordo,  ordo  sacerdotalis  (Tertull.  De  exhort,  cast.  7),  ordo  eccle- 
siasticus or  ecclesiae  (De  Monog  11 ;  De  idolol.  7);   KXtjpiKoi,  clerici. 

6  Aaos,  XaiVoi,  plebs.  ''■  Ordinatio. 

8  Occasionally,  however,  we   find  a  somewhat  wider  terminology.     Tertulliau 


410  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

early  as  the  third  century,  the  foundations  of  a  complete  hierar- 
chy ;  though  a  hierarchy  of  only  moral  power,  and  holding  no 
sort  of  outward  control  over  the  conscience.  The  body  of  the 
laity  consisted  of  two  classes :  the  faithful,  or  the  baptized  and 
comnmnicating  members,  and  the  catechumens,  who  were  being 
pre2)arcd  for  baptism  Those  church  members  who  lived  toge- 
ther in  one  place,^  formed  a  church  in  the  narrower  sense.^ 

With  the  exaltation  of  the  clergy  appeared  the  tendency  to 
separate  them  from  secular  business,  and  even  from  social  rela- 
tions— from  marriage,  for  example,  and  to  represent  them,  even 
outwiirdly,  as  a  caste  independent  of  the  people,  and  devoted 
exclusively  to  the  service  of  the  sanctuary.  They  drew  their 
support  from  the  church  treasury,  which  was  supplied  by  volun- 
tary contributions  and  weekly  collections  on  Sunday.  After 
the  third  century  they  were  forbidden  to  engage  in  any  secular 
business,  or  even  to  accept  any  trusteeship.  Celibacy  was  not 
yet  in  this  period  enforced,  but  left  optional.  Tertullian,  Gre- 
gory of  Nyssa,  and  other  distinguished  church  teachers,  lived  in 
wedlock,  though  theoretically  preferring  the  unmarried  state. 
Of  an  official  clerical  costume  no  certain  trace  appears  before  the 
fourth  century ;  and  if  it  came  earlier  into  use,  as  may  have 
been  the  case,  after  the  example  of  the  Jewish  church,  it  must 
have  been  confined,  during  the  times  of  jDcrsecution,  to  the  actual 
exercises  of  worship. 

With  the  growth  of  this  distinction  of  clergy  and  laity,  how- 
ever, the  idea  of  the  universal  priesthood  continued  to  assert 
itself:  in  Irenaeus,'  for  example,  and  in  a  morbid  form  in  the 
Montanists,  who  even  allowed  women  to  teach  publicly  in  the 
church.  So  Tertullian,  with  whom  clems  and  laid  were  at 
one  time  familiar  expressions,  inquires,  as  the  champion  of  the 
Montanistic  reaction  against  the  Catholic  hierarchy :  Nonne  et 
laici  sacerdotes  sumus?     It  is  written,  he  continues:  lie  hath 

mentions,  Demonog.  c.  12,  tlie  ordo  viduamm  among  the  ordincs  ecclesiastic!,  and 
even  the  much  later  Jerome  (see  In  Jcsaiam  1.  v.  c.  19,  18),  enumerates  quinque 
ecclcsiae  ordines,  episcopos,  presbyteros,  diaconos,  fideles,  catecliumcnos. 

1  TlapoiKoi,  napcriSniioi,  Kpli.  ii.  19.     1  Pet.  ii.  11.  2  or  parish,  mpouta. 

8  Adv.  haer.  iv.  8,  §  3. 


§    105,      CLERGY   AXD   LAITY.  411 

made  us  kings  and  priests.  Eegard  to  the  churcli  alone  has 
made  the  distinction  between  clergy  and  laity.  Where  there  is 
no  college  of  ministers,  thou  administerest  the  sacrament,  thou 
baj^tizest,  thou  art  a  priest  for  thyself  alone.  And  where  there 
are  three  of  you,  though  you  be  only  laymen,"  there  is  a  church. 
For  each  one  lives  by  his  faith,  and  there  is  no  respect  of  per- 
sons with  God.2  All,  therefore,  which  the  clergy  considered 
peculiar  to  them,  he  claimed  for  the  laity  as  the  common  sacer- 
dotal privilege  of  all  Christians. 

Even  in  the  catholic  church  an  acknowledgment  of  the  general 
priesthood  showed  itself  in  the  custom  of  requiring  the  baptized 
to  say  the  Lord's  prayer  before  the  assembled  congregation. 
With  reference  to  this,  Jerome  says:  Sacerdotium  laici,  id  est 
baptisma.  The  congregation  also,  at  least  in  the  West,  retained 
for  a  long  time  the  right  of  approval  and  rejection  in  the  choice 
of  its  ministers,  even  of  the  bishop.  Clement  of  Eome  ex- 
pressly requires  the  assent  of  the  whole  congregation  for  a  valid 
election;^  and  Cyprian  terms  this  an  apostolic  and  almost  uni- 
versal regulation.^  According  to  his  testimony  it  obtained  also 
in  Rome,  and  was  observed  in  the  case  of  his  contemporary, 
Cornelius.^  Sometimes  in  the  filling  of  a  vacant  bishopric  the 
"suifragium"  of  the  people  preceded  the  "judicium"  of  the 
clergy  of  the  diocese.  Cyprian,  and  afterwards  Athanasius, 
Ambrose,  and  other  eminent  prelates,  were  in  a  manner  pressed 
into  the  bishopric  in  this  democratic  way.  Cyprian,  with  all  his 
high-church  proclivities,  declares  it  his  principle  to  do  nothing 
as  bishop  without  the  advice  of  the  presbyters  and  deacons,  and 
the  consent  of  the  people.^  A  peculiar  influence,  which  even 
the  clergy  could  not  withstand,  attached  to  the  confessors,  and  it 
was  sometimes  abused  by  them,  as  in  their  advocacy  of  the 


^  Licet  laicL 

2  De  exhort,  cast.  c.  7.     Comp.  also  De  monog.  7,  12 ;  De  Bapt.  17 ;  De  orat.  18. 

3  1  Cor.  44:    EwcvSoKdarii  Trjs  eKK^naiui  ^racrj;.  *  Ep.  Ix.  3-4    (sd.  G-oldhom). 

5  Ep.  Iv.  7  :  Factus  est  Cornelius  episcopus  de  Dei  et  Christi  ejus  judicio,  de 
clericorura  paene  omnium  testimonio,  de  plebis  quae  turn  adfuit,  suffragio,  et  de  sacer- 
dotum  antiquorum  et  bonorum  virorum  coUegio. 

*  Sine  consensu  plebis. 


412  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

lapsed,  who  denied  Christ  in  the  Decian  persecution.  Finally, 
we  notice  cases  where  the  function  of  teaching  was  actually 
exercised  by  laymen.  The  bishops  of  Jerusalem  and  Caesarea 
allowed  the  learned  Origen  to  expound  the  Bible  to  their  con- 
gregations before  his  ordination,  and  appealed  to  the  example  of 
several  bishops  in  the  East.  Even  in  the  Apostolical  Constitu- 
tions there  occurs,  under  the  name  of  the  apostle  Paul,  the  direc- 
tion: "Though  a  man  be  a  layman,  if  experienced  in  the 
delivery  of  instruction,  and  morally  worthy,  he  may  teach ;  for 
they  shall  be  all  taught  of  God."  The  fourth  general  council  at 
Carthage  (398)  prohibited  laymen  from  teaching  in  the  presence 
of  clergymen  and  without  their  consent,  implying  at  the  same  time, 
that  with  such  permission  the  thing  might  be  done.  It  is  worthy 
of  notice  that  a  number  of  the  most  eminent  church  teachers  of 
this  period,  Hermas,  Justin  Martyr,  Athenagoras,  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  Origen,  Tertullian,  Arnobius,  and  Lactantius,  were 
either  laymen,  or  at  most  only  presbyters. 

§  106.     New  Church  Officers. 

The  expansion  of  the  church,  the  development  of  her  cultus, 
and  the  tendency  towards  hierarchical  pomp,  led  to  the  multipli- 
cation of  offices  below  the  diaconate,  which  formed  the  ordines 
minores.  About  the  middle  of  the  third  century  the  following 
new  officers  are  mentioned : — 

1.  Sub-deacons,  or  under-helpers  ;^  assistants  and  deputies  of 
the  deacons ;  the  only  one  of  these  subordinate  offices  for  which 
a  formal  ordination  was  required.     Opinions  diffijr  as  to  its  value. 

2/  Readers,^  who  read  the  Scriptures  in  the  assembly  and  had 
charge  of  the  church  books. 

3.  Acolyths,^  attendants  of  the  bishops  in  their  official  duties 
and  processions. 

'  'Y7ro(5idifoi/oi,  subdiaconi,  perhaps  the  same  as  the  ivripiTat  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  the  earlier  fathers. 

"  'Ai-ayvMorai,  lectores,  mentioned  by  TertulUan. 
^  'A-coXv^ii,  acolythi. 


§   107.      ORIGIN   OF  THE   EPISCOPATE.  413 

4.  Exorcists/  who,  by  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands,  cast 
out  the  devil  from  the  possessed,^  and  from  catechumens,  and 
frequently  assisted  in  baptism.  This  power  had  been  formerly 
considered  a  free  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

5.  Precentors,^  for  the  musical  parts  of  the  liturgy,  psalms, 
benedictions,  responses,  etc. 

6.  Janitors  or  sextons,^  who  took  care  of  the  religious  meeting- 
rooms,  and  at  a  later  period  also  of  the  church-yards. 

7.  Besides  these  there  were  in  the  larger  churches  catechists, 
and,  where  the  church  language  in  the  worship  was  not  under- 
stood, as  in  Alexandria,  interpreters;  but  the  interpreting  was 
commonly  done  by  presbyters,  deacons,  or  readers. 

The  bishop  Cornelius  of  Rome  (f  252),  in  a  letter  on  the  Nova- 
tian  schism,^  gives  the  number  of  ofl&cers  in  his  church  as 
follows:  Forty-six  presbyters,  probably  corresponding  to  the 
number  of  the  meeting-houses  of  the  Christians  in  the  city; 
seven  deacons,  after  the  model  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem, 
Acts  vi. ;  seven  subdeacons ;  forty-two  acolyths,  and  fifty-two 
exorcists,  readers,  and  janitors. 

As  to  the  ordines  majores,  the  deacons  during  this  period  rose 
in  importance.  In  addition  to  their  original  duties  of  caring  for 
the  poor  and  sick,  they  baptized,  distributed  the  sacramental 
cup,  said  the  church  prayers,  not  seldom  preached,  and  were 
confidential  advisers,  sometimes  even  delegates  and  vicars  of 
the  bishops.  This  last  is  true  especially  of  the  archdeacon,  who 
does  not  appear,  however,  till  the  fourth  century.  The  presby- 
ters, on  the  contrary,  though  above  the  deacons,  were  now  over- 
topped by  the  new  ofl&ce  of  bishop,  in  which  the  entire  govern- 
ment of  the  church  became  centred. 

§  107.     Origin  of  the  Episcopate. 

Besides  the  works  already  cited,  compare  the  special  works  and  essays  pub- 
lished since  1837,  by  Rothe  (close  of  his  "Anfange"),  Hefele  (R.  C), 

1  'E^op/ciffraf,  exorcistae.  2  ^ainovi^6)icvoi,  ivepynvjitvoi. 

^  ^FfflXrai,  psalmistae,  cantorea.  *  Qvpwpoi,  irvXwpoi,  ostiarii,  janitores. 

s  la  Euseb.  vi.  43. 


414  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-811. 

Baur,  Htlgenfeld,  Bunsek,  Peter.mann,  Ccreton,  Lipsics,   Uhlhork, 
etc.,  on  the  Ignatian  controversy.     (Conip.  §  119.) 

The  most  important  and  also  tlie  most  difficult  plienomenon 
of  our  period  in  the  department  of  church  organization  is  the  rise 
and  development  of  the  episcopate.  This  institution  comes  to 
view  in  the  second  century  as  the  supreme  spiritual  office,  and  is 
retained  to  this  day  by  all  Eoman  and  Greek  Christendom,  and 
even  by  a  large  part  of  the  Protestant  church.  A  form  of 
government  so  ancient  and  so  widely  adopted,  can  be  satisfac- 
torily accounted  for  only  on  the  supposition  of  a  religious  need, 
namely,  the  need  of  a  tangible  outward  representation,  and  cen- 
tralization, to  illustrate  and  embody  to  the  people  their  relation 
to  Christ  and  to  God,  and  the  unity  of  the  church.  It  is  there- 
fore inseparable  from  the  catholic  principle  of  authority  and 
mediation,  while  the  protestant  principle  of  freedom  and  direct 
intercourse  of  the  individual  with  Christ,  consistently  carried 
out,  infringes  the  strict  episcopal  constitution,  and  tends  to  minis- 
terial equality. 

During  the  lifetime  of  the  apostles,  those  eye  and  ear-wit- 
nesses of  the  divine-human  life  of  Jesus,  and  the  inspired  organs 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  there  was  no  room  for  proper  bishops ;  and 
those  who  were  so  called,  must  have  held  only  a  subordinate 
place.  The  church,  too,  in  the  first  century  was  as  yet  a  strictly 
supernatural  organization,  a  stranger  in  this  world,  standing  with 
one  foot  in  eternity,  and  longing  for  the  second  coming  of  her 
heavenly  bridegroom.  But  in  the  episcopal  constitution  the 
church  provided  an  extremely  simple  but  compact  and  freely 
expansible  organization,  planted  foot  firmly  upon  earth,  became 
an  institution  for  the  education  of  her  infant  people,  and,  as 
chiliaatic  hopes  receded,  fell  into  the  path  of  quiet  historical 
development ;  yet  unquestionably  she  thus  incurred  also  the 
danger  of  a  secularization,  which  reached  its  height  just  when 
the  hierarchy  became  complete  in  the  Roman  church,  and  which 
finally  necessitated  a  reformation  on  the  basis  of  apostolical 
Christianity.  That  this  secularization  began  with  the  growing 
power  of  the  bishops  even  before  Constantino  and  the  Byzan- 


§   107.      ORIGIN"   OF  THE   EPISCOPATE.  415 

tine  court  ortliodoxj,  we  perceive,  for  instance,  in  the  lax  peni- 
tential discipline,  the  avarice,  and  the  corruption  with  which 
Hippolytus,  in  the  ninth  book  of  his  Philosophoumena,  re- 
proaches Zephyrinus  and  Callistus,  the  Roman  bishops  of  his 
time  (202-223);  also  in  the  example  of  the  bishop  Paul  of 
Antioch,  who  was  deposed  in  269  on  almost  incredible  charges, 
not  only  against  his  doctrine,  but  still  more  against  his  moral 
character;^  and  finally  from  the  testimony  of  Origen,^  who  com- 
plains, that  there  are,  especially  in  the  larger  cities,  overseers  of 
the  people  of  God,  who  seek  to  outdo  the  pomp  of  heathen  poten- 
tates, would  surround  themselves,  like  the  emperors,  with  a  body- 
guard, and  make  themselves  terrible  and  inaccessible  to  the  poor. 

We  consider,  first,  the  origin  of  the  episcopate.  The  unreliable 
character  of  our  documents  and  traditions  from  this  transition 
period  between  the  close  of  the  apostolic  church  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  post-apostolic,  leaves  large  room  here  for  critical 
research  and  combination.  First  of  all  comes  the  question :  Was 
the  episcopate  directly  or  indirectly  of  apostolic  (Johannean)  ori- 
gin, as  the  Catholics  and  the  Anglicans,  and  in  a  modified  sense 
also  some  of  the  recent  Protestant  divines  of  Grermany,  maintain  ? 
Or  did  it  arise,  as  the  Presbyterians  and  most  Protestant  histo- 
rians assert,  not  till  after  the  death  of  the  apostles,  and  develope 
itself  from  the  presidency  of  the  congregational  presbytery  ? 

For  the  former  view  the  following  points   may  be   made: 

(1)  The  position  of  James,  who  evidently  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  church  of  Jerusalem,^  and  is  called  bishop,  at  least  in  the 
pseudo-Clementine  literature,  and  in  fact  supreme  bishop  of  the 
whole  church.*  This  instance,  however,  stands  quite  alone,  and 
does  not  warrant  an  inference  in  regard  to  the  entire  church. 

(2)  The  office  of  the  assistants  of  the  apostles,  like  Timothy, 
Titus,  Silas,  Epaphroditus,  Luke,  Mark,  who  had  a  sort  of  super- 
vision of  several  churches  and  congregational  officers,  and  in  a 
measure  represented  the  apostles.  But,  in  any  case,  these  were 
not  limited,  at  least  during  the  life  of  the  apostles,  each  to  a  par- 

1  Comp.  §  82,  and  Euseb.  vii.  27-30.  '  In  Matt.  £  420,  ed.  Huet. 

*  Acts  XV.   13  ;    XxL  18.  *    'KviaKoVo;  CTiOKOiTCJV. 


416  SECOXD   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

ticular  diocese ;  they  were  itinerant  evangelists  and  legates  of 
tlie  a^DOstles;  only  the  doubtful  tradition  of  a  later  da}-  assigns 
them  distinct  bishoprics.  (3)  The  angels  of  the  seven  churches 
of  Asia/  who,  if  regarded  as  individuals,  look  very  like  the  later 
bishops,  and  indicate  a  monarchical  shaping  of  the  church  gov^ern- 
ment  in  the  days  of  John.  But,  apart  from  the  various  interpre- 
tations of  the  Apocalyptic  ayysKoi^  that  office  appears  not 
co-ordinate  with  the  apostolate  of  John,  but  subordinate  to  it. 

(4)  The  testimony  of  Ignatius  of  Antioch,  a  disciple  of  John, 
in  his  seven  (or  three)  epistles  from  the  beginning  of  the  second 
century  (even  according  to  the  shorter  Syriac  version),  presup- 
poses the  episcopate,  in  distinction  from  the  presbyterate,  as 
already  existing,  though  as  a  new  institution,  yet  in  its  growth. 

(5)  The  statement  of  Clement  of  Alexandria,^  that  John  insti- 
tuted bishops  after  his  return  from  Patmos ;  and  the  accounts  of 
Irenaeus,^  TertuUian,^  Eusebius,^  and  Jerome,^  that  the  same 
apostle  nominated  and  ordained  Polycarp  (with  whom  Irenaeus 
was  personally  acquainted)  bishop  of  Smyrna.  (6)  The  uncertain 
tradition  in  Eusebius,'  who  derived  it  probably  from  Hegesippus, 
that  the  surviving  apostles  and  disciples  of  the  apostles,  soon 
after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  elected  Symeon,  the  son  of 
Klopas  and  a  cousin  of  Jesus,  bishop  of  that  city  and  successor 
of  James.  But  this  arrangement  at  best  was  merely  local,  and 
not  general.  (7)  The  tradition  of  the  churches  of  Antioch  and 
Rome,  which  trace  their  line  of  bishops  back  to  apostolic  institu- 
tion. (8)  A  passage  in  the  second  of  the  Pfaff  Fragments  of  Ire- 
naeus, wliich  speaks  of  5s>£pai  twv  c/.'ttoo't&Xwv  ^mTk^ng ;  by  which 
Rothe  understands  the  institution  of  the  episcopate.  But  these 
words  are  at  all  events  of  unsettled  interpretation,  and,  according  to 
the  connexion,  relate  not  to  the  government  of  the  church  at  all,  but 
to  the  celebration  of  the  eucharist.  (9)  Equally  uncertain  is  the 
conclusion  drawn  from  a  passage  in  the  First  Epistle  of  Clement 
of  Rome  to  the  Corinthians,^  where  it  is  said,  that  the  apostles, 

*  Rev.  i.  20.  2  Quis  dives  salvus,  c  42.  *  Adv.  hacr.  III.  3. 

De  praeacr.  haer.  a  32.  s  H.  E.  III.  36.  «  Catal  sub.  Polyc. 

1  H.  E.  III.  11,  comp.  the  fragment  of  Hegesippus,  IV.  22.      »  C.  44. 


§    107.      ORIGIX   OF   THE    EPISCOPATE.  417 

foreseeing  the  future  controversy  about  the  name  of  the  episcopal 
(ministerial)  office/  appointed  bishops  (i.  e.  presbyters  and  dea- 
cons,^) BJudiCifteriuards  gave  order,^  that  when  they  should  die,  other 
approved  men  should  follow  ihem  in  office.'*  Kothe  refers  "  they" 
and  "  them  "  to  the  apostles  as  the  main  subject.  But  these  words 
are  usually  understood  of  the  congregational  officers  just  before 
mentioned,  and  in  this  case  the  "other  approved  men"  are  not 
diocesan  bishops,  but  presbyter-bishops  and  deacons.  This  view  is 
sustained  by  the  connexion.  The  difficulty  in  the  Corinthian  con- 
gregation was  a  rebellion,  not  against  a  single  bishop,  but  a  num- 
ber of  presbyter-bishops,  and  Clement  reminds  them  that  the 
apostles  instituted  this  office  not  only  for  the  first  generation, 
but  provided  for  a  permanent  succession,  and  that  the  officers 
were  appointed  for  life,  and  could  therefore  not  be  deposed,  sO' 
long  as  they  discharged  their  duties.  Hence  he  goes  on  to  say,. 
immediately  after  the  disputed  passage  in  chapter  44,  "  AYhere- 
fore  we  think  that  those  cannot  justly  be  thrown  out  of  their- 
ministry,  who  were  appointed  either  by  them  (the  apostles),  or- 
afterwards  by  other  eminent  men,  with  the  consent  of  the  whole 
congregation ;  and  who  have  with  all  lowliness  and  innocency 
ministered  to  the  flock  of  Christ,  in  peace,  and  without  self- 
interest,  and  were  for  a  long  time  commended  by  all."  (10) 
Finally,  the  philosophical  consideration,  that  the  universal  and 
uncontested  spread  of  the  episcopate  in  the  second  century  can- 
not be  satisfactorily  explained  without  the  presumption  of  at 
least  the  indirect  sanction  of  the  apostles. 

1  'En-i  Tiiii  dmjtiiTnq  riif  UtcKOTrrn,  wliich  Signifies  here  the  ministerial  of3fice  in  general. 
Comp.  Acts  i.  20,  and  the  Septuagint  in  Ps.  cix.  8 ;  Num.  iv.  16 ;  2  Chron.  xxiii.  I'Sj 

2  Comp.  c.  42. 

"Ettih)/'');  an  obscure  word,  which  Rothe  ingeniously  translates,  "testamentary- 
direction,"  and  identifies  with  the  i^f.vTcpat  iiani^cts  of  Irenaeus.  The  drift  of  the  pas- 
sage, however,  does  not  so  much  depend  upon  the  meaning  of  this  word  as  upon  the 
question  whetlier  the  apostles  or  the  congregational  officers  are  the  grammatical  sub- 
jects of  the  following  verb,  Koifiri^oatv, 

*  The  whole  passage  in  c.  44  reads  thus:  Oi  dTrnTroXot  hiaov  tyvwaav  ita  mv  Kvpiuv 

flfioiv  Iris.  Xoiaroii,  on  cpis  iarai  firi  Tov  dvofiaroi  Tn;  £mo-ico7r/)f.  Ata  ravrnf  ovi>  riji/  ahiav 
npoyvoxriv  eiXriipdre;  reXeiav  KariaTqaav  tov;  npociprifiivovi  (i.e.  presbyter-bishopS  and 
deacons),  kuI  jie-a^v  imvujttiv  6c6ojKacip^  0Kii)i,  ian  Koijiq^MUti'^  SiaSi^b^vTai  ercpoi  id'iKinaa^i- 
vol  afSpe;  ri)y  ^rtrovpytaf  avToiv. 

27 


418  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

In  favor  of  the  second  view,  wliicli  denies  tlie  apostolic  origin 
of  the  episcopate  as  a  separate  office  or  order,  and  derives  it  by 
way  of  human,  though  natural  and  necessary  development  from 
the  presidency  of  the  original  congregational  presbyterate,  are 
the  following  facts : — (1)  The  undeniable  identity  of  presbyters 
and  bishops  in  the  New  Testament,^  conceded  even  by  the  best 
interpreters  among  the  church  fathers,  by  Jerome,  Chrysostom, 
and  Theodoret.  (2)  Later  in  the  second  century  the  two  terms 
are  still  used  in  like  manner  for  the  same  office.  The  Roman 
bishop  Clement,  in  his  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,^  says, 
that  the  apostles,  in  the  newly-founded  churches,  appointed  the 
first  fruits  of  the  faith,  i.  e.  the  first  converts,  f-TritfxoVoug  xa/  (Jiaxovoi;^. 
He  here  omits  the  ■7r^5o'/3i;Vs^oi,  as  Paul  does  in  Phil.  i.  1,  for 
the  simple  reason  that  they  are  in  his  view  identical  with 
iirkxoiroi ;  while,  conversely,  in  c.  57  he  enjoins  subjection  to 
presbyters,  without  mentioning  bishops.^  Clement  of  Alexan- 
dria distinguishes,  it  is  true,  the  deaconate,  the  presbyterate,  and 
the  episcopate ;  but  he  supposes  only  a  two-fold  official  charac- 
ter, that  of  presbyters,  and  that  of  deacons; — a  view  which 
found  advocates  so  late  as  the  middle  ages,  even  in  pope  Urban 
II.,  A.D.  1091.  Lastly,  Irenaeus,  towards  the  close  of  the 
second  century,  though  himself  a  bishop,  makes  only  a  relative 
diffi^rence  between  episcopi  and  presbytcri ;  speaks  of  successions 
of  the  one  in  the  same  sense  as  of  the  other ;  terms  the  office  of 
the  latter  episcopatus;  and  calls  the  bishops  of  Rome  ir^stf/SoTs^oi.* 
Sometimes,  it  is  true,  he  appears  to  use  the  term  -r^stf.Si^Te^oj  in  a 
more  general  sense,  for  the  old  men,  the  fathers."  But  in  any 
case  his  language  shows  that  the  distinction  between  the  two 
offices  was  at  that  time  still  relative  and  indefinite.     (3)  The 

'  Acts  XX.  17-28.  Phil.  i.  1.  Tit.  i.  5.  1  Tim.  iii.  1-7,  8-13.  1  Pet.  v.  1,  2. 
Comp.  the  author's  Hist,  of  the  Apo.st.  Ch.  §§  132,  133,  p.  522-531  (N.  Y.  ed.). 

2  C.  42. 

3  The  fiyfiiitvnt,  c.  1,  also,  and  the  jrporjynvficvoi,  c.  21,  are  not  bishops  of  the  later 
sort,  as  might  bo  inferred  even  from  tlie  plural  number,  but  the  congregational  offi- 
cers collectively,  as  in  Ileb.  xiii.  7 ;  xvii.  24. 

*  Adv.  haor.  iii.  2,  §  2 ;  3,  §  2.     iv.  26,  §  2,  §  4  and  §  5.      Comp.  also,  the  letter 
of  Irenaeus  to  the  Roman  bi.sliop  Victor  in  Kuseb.,  v.  24. 
s  Comp.  2  Jno.  i.  and  3  Jno.  i. 


§   107.      ORIGIN   OF  THE   EPISCOPATE.  419 

express  testimony  of  the  learned  Jerome,'  that  the  churches 
originally,  before  divisions  arose  through  the  instigation  of 
Satan,  were  governed  by  the  common  council  of  the  presbyters, 
and  not  till  a  later  period  was  one  of  the  presbyters  placed  at 
the  head,  to  watch  over  the  church  and  suppress  schisms.  He 
traces  the  difference  of  the  ofiice  simply  to  ecclesiastical  custom 
as  distinct  from  divine  institution.^  (4)  The  custom  of  the 
church  of  Alexandria,  where,  from  the  evangelist  Mark  down 
to  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  the  twelve  presbyters  elected 
one  of  their  number  president,  and  called  him  bishop.  This 
fact  rests  on  the  authority  of  Jerome,^  and  is  confirmed  inde- 
pendently by  the  Annals  of  the  Alexandrian  patriarch,  Euty- 
chius,  of  the  tenth  century.'*  The  latter  states  that  Mark  insti- 
tuted in  that  city  a  patriarch  (this  is  an  anachronism)  and  twelve 
presbyters,  who  should  fill  the  vacant  patriarchate  by  electing 
and  ordaining  to  that  office  one  of  their  number  and  then  elect- 
ing a  new  presbyter,  so  as  always  to  retain  the  number  twelve. 
He  relates,  moreover,  that  down  to  the  time  of  Demetrius,  at  the 
end  of  the  second  century,  there  was  no  bishop  in  Egypt  besides 
the  one  at  Alexandria ;  consequently  there  could  have  been  no 
episcopal  ordination  except  by  going  out  of  the  province. 

The  only  satisfactory  conclusion  from  these  various  facts  and 
traditions  seems  to  be,  that  the  episcopate  proceeded,  both  in  the 
descending  and  ascending  scale,  from  the  apostolate  and  the 
original  presbyterate  conjointly,  as  a  contraction  of  the  former 
and  an  expansion  of  the  latter,  without  either  express  concert  or 
general  regulation  of  the  apostles,  neither  of  which,  at  least,  can 

'  Ad  Titum  i.  7.     Comp.  Epist.  83  and  85. 

2  Ad  Tit.  i.  7 :  Sicut  ergo  presbyter!  sciunt,  se  ex  eeclesiae  consuetudine  ei,  qui 
sibi  praepositus  fuerit,  esse  subjectos,  ita  episcopi  noverint,  se  magis  consuetudine 
quam  dispositionis  Dominicae  veritate  presbyteris  esse  majores  et  in  commune  debere 
ecclesiam  regere.  Tlie  Roman  deacon  Hilary  (Ambrosiaster)  says,  ad  1  Tim.  iii.  10: 
Hie  enim  episcopus  est,  qui  inter  presbytcros  primus  est.  Comp.  also  Chrysostora 
Hom.  xi.  in  epist.  1  ad  Tim.  iii  8. 

3  Epist.  ad  Evangelum  (0pp.  iv.  p  802,  ed.  Martinay) :  Alexandriae  a  Marco 
evangelista  usque  ad  Heraclara  et  Bionysium  episcopos  presbyteri  semper  unum  ex 
se  eleetum  in  excelsiori  giadu  collocatum  episcopum  nominabant,  quomodo  si  exer- 
citus  imperatorem  facial,  aut  diaconi  elegant  de  se,  quern  industrium  noverint  et 
archidiaconum  vocent.  ^  Ed.  Oxon.  1658,  p.  331. 


420  SECOND   PEIilOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

be  historically  proved.  It  arose  instinctively,  as  it  were,  in  that 
transition  period  between  the  first  and  second  centuries,  probably 
before  the  death  of  John.  It  grew,  in  part,  out  of  the  universal 
demand  for  a  continuation  of,  or  substitute  for,  the  apostolic 
church  government,  and  this,  so  far  as  it  was  transmissible  at  all, 
very  naturally  passed  first  to  the  most  eminent  disciples  and 
fellow-laborers  of  the  apostles,  to  Mark,  Luke,  Timothy,  Clement, 
Ignatius,  Polycarp,  which  accounts  for  the  foct  that  tradition 
makes  them  all  bishops  in  the  prominent  sense  of  the  term.  It  was 
further  occasioned  by  the  need  of  a  unity  in  the  presbyterial 
government  of  congregations,  which,  in  the  nature  of  the  case  and 
according  to  the  analogy  of  the  Jewish  d^-x^Kfwu.'yuyog,'^  required  a 
head  or  president.  This  president  was  called  bishop,  at  first  only  by 
eminence,  as  primus  inter  pares ;  afterwards  in  the  exclusive  sense. 
In  the  smaller  churches  there  was,  perhaps,  from  the  beginning, 
only  one  presbyter,  w4io  of  himself  formed  this  centre,  like  the 
chorepiscopi  or  country -bishops^  in  the  fourth  century.  The 
dioceses  of  the  bishops  in  Asia  Minor  and  North  Africa,  owdng 
to  their  large  number,  in  the  second  and  third  century,  can 
hardly  have  exceeded  the  extent  of  respectable  pastoral  charges. 
James  of  Jerusalem,  on  the  other  hand,  and  his  immediate  suc- 
cessors, whose  positions  in  many  respects  were  altogether  jjeculiar, 
seem  to  have  been  the  only  bishops  in  Palestine.  Somewhat 
similar  was  the  state  of  things  in  Egypt,  where,  down  to  Deme- 
trius (a.d.  190-232),  we  find  only  the  one  bishop  of  Alexandria. 
We  cannot  therefore  assume  any  strict  uniformity.  But  the 
whole  church  spirit  of  the  age  tended  towards  centralization ;  it 
every whoi'e  felt  a  demand  for  compact,  solid  unity ;  and  this 
inward  bent,  amidst  the  surrounding  dangers  of  persecution  and 
heresy,  carried  the  church  irresistibly  towards  the  episcopate. 
In  so  critical  and  stormy  a  time,  the  principle,  union  is  strength, 
division  is  weakness,  prevailed  over  all.  In  fact,  the  existence 
of  tlu!  church  at  that  jx'rifxl  may  be  said  to  have  depended  in  a 
gi'cat  measure  on  tlie  preservation  and  jiromotion  of  unity,  and 

'  Wk.  V.  35,  36,  38.     Lu.  viii.  41,  49.     Acta  xviii.  8,  17. 


§   108.      DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE   EPISCOPATE.  421 

tliat  in  an  outward,  tangible  form,  suited  to  the  existing  grade 
of  culture.  Sucli  a  unity  was  offered  in  the  bishop,  who  held  a 
monarchical,  or  more  properly  a  ]3atriarchal  relation  to  the 
congregation.  In  the  bishop  was  found  the  visible  representa- 
tive of  Christ,  the  great  Head  of  the  whole  church.  In  the 
bishop,  therefore,  all  sentiments  of  piety  found  a  centre.  In  the 
bishop  the  whole  religious  posture  of  the  people  towards  God 
and  towards  Christ  had  its  outward  support  and  guide.  And  in 
proportion  as  every  church  pressed  towards  a  single  centre,  this 
central  personage  must  acquire  a  peculiar  importance  and  subor- 
dinate the  other  presbyters  to  itself;  though,  at  the  same  time, 
as  the  language  of  Clement  and  Irenaeus,  the  state  of  things  in 
Egvpt,  and  even  in  North  Africa,  and  the  testimony  of  Jerome 
and  other  fathers,  clearly  prove,  the  remembrance  of  the  original 
equality  could  not  be  entirely  blotted  out,  but  continued  to  show 
itself  in  various  ways. 

Whatever  may  be  thought,  therefore,  of  the  origin  and  the 
divine  right  of  the  episcopate,  its  historical  necessity,  and  its 
adaptation  to  the  wants  of  the  church  at  the  time,  no  unpreju- 
diced historian  can  deny. 

But,  then,  this  primitive  catholic  episcopal  system  must  by  no 
means  be  confounded  with  the  later  hierarchy.  The  dioceses, 
especially,  excepting  those  of  Jerusalem,  Alexandria,  Antioch, 
and  Eome,  must  have  long  remained  very  small,  if  we  look  at  the 
number  of  professing  Christians.  In  the  Apocalypse  seven  such 
centres  of  unity  are  mentioned  within  a  compai'atively  small  com- 
pass in  Asia  Minor ;  and  in  258  Cyprian  assembled  a  council  of 
eighty-seven  bishops  of  North  Africa.  The  functions  of  the  bishops 
were  not  yet  strictly  separated  from  those  of  the  presbyters,  and  it 
was  only  by  degrees  that  ordination,  and,  in  the  "Western  church, 
confirmation  also,  came  to  be  intrusted  exclusively  to  them. 

§  108.     Development  of  the  Episcopate. 
It  is  matter  of  fact  that  the  episcopal  form  of  government  was 
universally  established  in  the  eastern  and  western  church  as 
early  as  the  middle  of  the  second  century.     Even  the  heretical 


422  SECOND   PEEIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

sects,  at  least  the  Ebiouites,  as  we  must  infer  from  the  commen- 
dation of  the  episcopacy  in  the  pseudo-Clementine  literature, 
were  organized  on  this  plan,  as  well  as  the  later  schismatic  par- 
ties of  Novatians,  Donatists,  etc.  But  it  is  equally  undeniable, 
that  the  episcopate  reached  its  complete  form  only  step  by  step. 
In  the  period  before  us  we  must  note  three  stages  in  this 
development  connected  with  the  names  of  Ignatius  in  Syria 
(t  107  or  116),  Irenaeus  in  Gaul  (f  202),  and  Cyprian  in  North 
Africa  (f  258). 

The  episcopate  first  appears,  as  distinct  from  the  presbyterate, 
though  as  yet  a  young  institution,  greatly  needing  commenda- 
tion, in  the  famous  seven  (or  three)  Epistles  of  Ignatius  of  Anti- 
och,  a  disciple  of  the  apostles.  We  have  three  different  versions 
of  these  Epistles,  but  only  one  of  them  can  be  genuine ;  either 
the  smaller  Greek  version,  or  the  lately  discovered  Syriac.^  In 
the  latter,  which  contains  only  three  epistles,  most  of  the  pas- 
sages on  the  episcopate  are  wanting,  indeed ;  yet  the  leading  fea- 
tures of  the  institution  appear  even  here,  and  we  can  recognise 
ex  ungue  leonem.  Nor  is  it,  by-the-way,  much  to  the  credit  of 
the  hierarchical  system,  that  its  very  oldest  documents  are  of 
such  equivocal  sort,  and  subject  to  the  suspicion  of  fraudulent 
interpolation.  The  substance  of  these  epistles  (with  the  excep- 
tion of  that  to  the  Eomans,  in  which,  singularly  enough,  not  a 
word  is  said  about  bishops)  consists  of  earnest  exhortations  to 
obey  the  bishop  and  maintain  the  unity  of  the  church  against 
the  Judaistic  and  docetic  heretics.  With  the  near  prospect  and 
the  most  ardent  desire  of  martyrdom,  the  author  has  no  more 
fervent  wish  than  the  perfect  inward  and  outward  unity  of  the 
faithful ;  and  to  this  the  episcopate  seems  to  him  indispensable. 
In  his  view  Christ  is  the  invisible  supreme  head,  the  one  great 
universal  bishop  of  all  the  churches  scattered  over  the  earth. 
The  human  bishop  is  the  centre  of  unity  for  the  single  congre- 
gation, and  stands  in  it  as  the  vicar  of  Christ  and  even  of  God.^ 
The  people,  therefore,  should  unconditionally  obey  him,  and  do 

•  Com  p.  §  119. 

*  'En-iT(fOT95  di  rrfn-jj-  ^sov  rpoAaS/'z/icios ;  each  bishop  bcing  thus  a  sort  of  pope. 


§    108.      DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE   EPISCOPATE.  423 

notliing  without  liis  will.  Blessed  are  tliey  wlio  are  one  witk 
the  bishop,  "as  the  church  is  with  Christ,  and  Christ  with  the 
Father,  so  that  all  harmonizes  in  unity.  Apostasy  from  the 
bishop  is  apostasy  from  Christ,  who  acts  in  and  through  the 
bishops  as  his  organs. 

The  peculiarity  in  this  Ignatian  view  is  that  the  bishop  appears 
in  it  as  the  head  and  centre  of  a  single  congregation,  and  not  as 
equally  the  representative  of  the  whole  church ;  also,  that  (as  in 
the  pseudo-Clementine  Homilies)  he  is  the  vicar  of  Christ,  and 
not,  as  in  the  later  view,  merely  the  successor  of  the  apostles, — 
the  presbyters  and  deacons  around  him  being  represented  as 
those  successors ;  and  finally,  that  there  are  no  distinctions  of 
order  among  the  bishops,  no  trace  of  a  primacy ;  all  are  fully 
coordinate  organs  of  Christ,  who  provides  for  himself  in  them, 
as  it  were,  a  sensible,  perceptible  omnipresence  in  the  church. 

In  all  these  points  the  idea  of  the  episcopate  in  Irenaeus,  the 
great  opponent  of  Gnosticism,  is  either  lower  or  higher.  This 
father  represents  the  institution  as  an  office  of  the  whole  church, 
and  as  the  continuation  of  the  apostolate,  as  the  vehicle  of  the 
catholic  tradition,  and  the  support  of  doctrinal  unity  in  opposi- 
tion to  heretical  vagaries.  He  exalts  the  bishops  of  the  original 
apostolic  churches,  above  all  the  church  of  Eome,  and  speaks 
with  great  emphasis  of  an  unbroken  episcopal  succession.^ 

The  same  view  we  find  also  in  the  earlier  writings  of  Tertul- 
lian  f  but  he  afterwards,  in  the  chiliastic  and  democratic  cause 
of  Montanism,  broke  with  the  episcopal  hierarchy,  and  presented 
against  it  the  antithesis  that  the  church  does  not  consist  of 
bishops,^  and  that  the  laity  are  also  priests. 

The  old  catholic  high-church  episcopalianism  is  most  clearly 
and  vigorously  represented  by  Cyprian,  and  as  it  were  embodied 
in  him.  He  considers  the  bishops  as  the  bearers  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  who  passed  from  Christ  to  the  apostles,  from  them  by 
ordination  to  the  bishops,  propagates  himself  in  an  unbroken 
line  of  succession,  and  gives  efficacy  to  all  religious  exercises. 

•  Comp.  Adv.  haer.  iii.  3,  §  1,  2 ;  4,  I ;  iv.  33,  §  8.     2  De  praescr.  liaer.  c.  32,  36. 
'  Xon  ecclesia  uumerus  episcoporum.     De  pudic.  c.  21. 


424:  SECOXD   PERIOD.   A.T).   100-311. 

Hence  they  are  also  the  pillars  of  the  unity  of  the  church ;  nay, 
in  a  certain  sense  they  are  the  church  itself.  "  The  bishop," 
says  he,  "is  in  the  church,  and  the  church  in  the  bishop,  and  if 
any  one  is  not  with  the  bishop  he  is  not  in  the  church."^ 
And  this  is  the  same  with  him  as  to  say,  he  is  no  Christian. 
Cyprian  is  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  idea  of  the  solidary 
unity  of  the  episcopate, — the  many  bishops  exercising  only  one 
office  in  solidum,  each  within  his  diocese,  and  each  at  the  same 
time  representing  in  himself  the  whole  office.^ 

But  with  all  this,  the  bishop  still  appears  in  Cyprian  in  the 
closest  connexion  with  the  presbyters.  He  undertook  no  im- 
portant matter  without  their  advice.  The  fourth  general  council, 
at  Cartilage,  A.D.  398,  even  declared  the  sentence  of  a  bishop, 
without  the  concurrence  of  the  lower  clergy,  void,  and  decreed 
that  in  the  ordination  of  a  presbyter,  all  the  presbyters,  w^ith  the 
bishop,  should  lay  their  hands  on  the  candidate.^  The  ordina- 
tion of  a  bishop  was  performed  by  the  neighboring  bishops, 
requiring  at  least  three  in  number.  In  Egypt,  however,  so  long- 
as  there  was  but  one  bishop  there,  presbyters  must  have  per- 
formed the  consecration,  which  Eutychius*  and  Hilary^  expressly 
assert  was  the  case. 

Besides  this  catholic  formation  of  the  episcopate,  the  kindred 
monarchical  hierarchy  of  the  Ebionistic  sects  deserves  attention, 
as  it  meets  us  in  the  pseudo-Clementine  Homilies.®     Chronologi- 


1  Epist.  Ixvi.  3.  Comp.  Ep.  Iv.  20 :  Christianus  non  est,  qui  in  Cliristi  ecclesia 
non  est. 

2  De  unit.  cccl.  c.  5 :  Episcopatus  unus  est,  cujus  a  sinfjulis  in  solidum  pars  tone- 
tur.  Comp.  Ep.  Iv.  20.  Quum  sit  a  Christo  una  ecclesia  per  totum  mundum  in 
multa  membra  divisa,  item  episcopatus  unus  episcoporum  multorum  concordi 
numerositatc  diffus\is. 

3  C.  .T :  Presbyter  quum  ordinatur,  episcopo  cum  benedicente  et  manum  super 
caput  ejus  tenente,  etiam  omnes  presbyteri,  qui  praesentes  sunt,  manus  suas  juxta 
manum  episcopi  super  caput  illius  teneant. 

*  Eutycliii  Patriarchae  Alexandr.  Annal.  interpr.  Pocockio.  Oxen.  1658, 1,  p.  331 : 
Coustituit  evangelista  Marcus  una  cum  Hakania  patriarcha  duodecim  presbyteros, 
qui  nenipe  cum  patriarcha  nianerent,  adeo  ut  cum  vacaret  patriarcliatus  uiiuni 
e  duodecim  presbyteris  eli^rcrent,  cuius  capiti  rciiqui  undecim  inanus  imjtoiieiitcs  ipsi 
benedicerent  et  patriarcham  crcareiit. 

5  Or  Aml,>rosiaster,  Ad  Kjih.  iv.  11.  *  Comp.  g  (i9. 


§  109.     THE  METROPOLITAN  AND  PATRIARCHAL  SYSTEMS.     425 

cally  this  falls  in  tlie  middle  of  the  second  century,  between 
Ignatius  and  Irenaeus,  and  forms  a  sort  of  transition  from  the 
former  to  the  latter ;  though  it  cannot  exactly  be  said  to  have 
influenced  the  catholic  church.  It  is  rather  a  heretical  counter- 
part of  the  orthodox  episcopate.  The  author  of  the  pseudo- 
Clementina,  like  Ignatius,  represents  the  bishop  as  the  vicar  of 
Christ,^  and  at  the  same  time,  according  to  the  view  of  Irenaeus, 
as  the  vicar  and  successor  of  the  apostles  f  but  outstrips  both  in 
his  high  hierarchical  expressions,  such  as  xaSs^^a,  S^o'vo?  ro\J  liad- 
xoVo'j,  and  in  his  idea  of  the  primacy,  or  of  a  universal  church 
monarchy,  which  he  finds,  however,  not  as  Irenaeus  suggests 
and  Cyprian  more  distinctly  states,  in  Peter  and  the  Roman  see, 
but,  agreeably  to  his  Judaistic  turn,  in  James  of  Jerusalem,  the 

§  109.     Beginnings  of  the  Metropolitan  and  Patriarchal  Systems. 

Though  the  bishops  were  equal  in  their  dignity  and  powers  as 
successors  of  the  apostles,  they  gradually  fell  into  different  ranks, 
according  to  the  ecclesiastical  and  political  importance  of  their 
several  districts.  On  the  lowest  level  stood  the  bishops  of  the 
country  churches,  the  chorepiscopi,^  who  though  not  mentioned 
till  the  fourth  century,  probably  originated  at  an  earlier  period. 
Among  the  city  bishops  again,  the  metropolitans  rose  above  the 
rest;  that  is,  the  bishops  of  the  capital  cities^  of  provinces. 
They  presided  in  the  provincial  synods,  and,  as  primi  inter  pares, 
ordained  the  bishops  of  the  province.  The  metropolitan  system 
appears,  from  the  Council  of  Nice  in  325,  to  have  been  already 
in  operation,  and  was  afterwards  more  fully  carried  out  in  the 
East.  In  North  Africa  the  oldest  bishop,  hence  called  senex, 
stood  as  primas,  at  the  head  of  his  province ;  but  the  bishop  of 
Carthage  enjoyed  the  highest  consideration,  and  could  summon 
general  councils. 

Still  older  and  more  important   is  the  distinction  of  apos- 

1  Horn.  iii.  60,  66,  70.     Ep.  Clem,  ad  Jac.  17.     Comp.  Recogn.  iiL  66. 

2  Ilora.  xi.  36.     Recogn.  iii.  66;  vi.  15.  3  Horn.  xi.  35.     Recogn.  iv.  35. 

*    Xto()r;ri(r«o7roi,  ^    "Slq-niT: >\ci:.       Hcnce  firiTpij-KjXiTai. 


420  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

tolic  mothcr-cliurclies,^  such  as  those  at  Jerusalem,  Antioch, 
Alexandria,  Ephesus,  Corinth,  and  Rome.  In  the  time  of  Ire- 
naeus  and  Tertullian  they  were  held  in  the  highest  regard,  as 
the  chief  bearers  of  the  pure  church  tradition.  Among  these 
Antioch,  Alexandria,  and  Eome  were  most  prominent,  be- 
cause they  were  the  capitals  respectively  of  the  three  divisions^ 
of  the  Roman  empire,  and  centres  of  trade  and  intercourse,  com- 
bining with  their  apostolic  origin  the  greatest  political  weight. 
To  the  bishop  of  Antioch  fell  all  Syria  as  his  metropolitan  dis- 
trict ;  to  the  bishop  of  Alexandria,  all  Egypt ;  to  the  bishop  of 
Rome,  central  and  lower  Italy,  without  definite  boundaries. 

Here  we  have  the  germs  of  the  eparchal  or  patriarchal  system, 
to  which  the  GTreek  church  to  this  day  adheres.  The  name 
patriarch  was  at  first,  particularly  in  the  East,  an  honorary  title 
for  all  bishops,  and  was  not  till  the  fourth  century  exclusively 
appropriated  to  the  bishops  of  the  three,  or,  if  we  add  Constan- 
tinople and  Jerusalem,  the  five,  ecclesiastical  and  political  capitals 
of  the  Roman  empire.  So  in  the  West  the  term  papa,  after- 
wards appropriated  by  the  Roman  bishop,  as  summus  pontifex, 
vicarius  Christi,  was  current  for  a  long  time  in  a  more  general 
application. 

§  110.     Genyis  of  (lie  Papacy. 

Blondel:  Traite  liistorique  de  la  primaute  en  I'eglise  Geneve.  1641.  Sal- 
MASius:  De  primatu  Papae.  Lugd.  Bat.  1G45.  I?  Barrow:  The  Pope's 
Supremacy.  Lond.  1680  (new  ed.  Oxf.  1836.  N.  lork,  1845).  Rotiiensee 
(R.C.) :  Der  Primat  des  Papstos  in  alien  christlichen  Jahrhunderten,  3  vols. 
Mainz,  1836-38  (I.  1-98).  Kenrick  (R.  C,  archbi?hop  of  Baltimore) : 
The  Primacy  of  the  Apostolic  See  vindicated.  N.  York,  4th  ed.  1855. 
R.  I.  Wilberforce  (formerly  archdeacon  in  the  Anglican  church;  died 
in  the  Roman  church,  1857)  :  An  Inquiry  into  the  Prixiciples  of  Church 
Authority  ;  or  Reasons  for  recalling  my  subscriptions  to  the  Royal  Sujire- 
macy.  Lond.  1854  (ch.  vi.-x.).  J.  E.  Riddle  :  The  History  of  the  Pa- 
pacy to  the  Period  of  the  Reformation.  Lond.  1856.  2  vols.  (Chapter 
1,  p.  2-113;  chiefly  taken  from  Schrockh  and  Planck).  Thomas  Green- 
wood: Cathedra  Petri.  A  Political  History  of  the  great  Latin  Patri- 
archate. Lond.  1856. — On  the  chronology  of  the  papacy  comp.  Pui- 
LTPPUS  Jaffe:  Regesta  PontiGcum  Romanorum  ab  condit?^  ecclesia  ad 
annum  1198.     Bcrol.  1851. 

'  Scdus  apostolicac,  matrices  ecclesiae.  '  'Ejr(ip;^(ij. 


§    110.      GEKMS   OF   THE   PAPACY.  427 

Among  the  great  bishops  of  Antioch,  Alexandria,  and  Rome, 
the  Roman  bishop  combined  all  the  conditions  for  a  primacy, 
which,  from  a  purely  honorary  distinction,  gradually  became  the 
basis  of  a  supremacy  of  jurisdiction.  The  same  propension  to 
monarchical  unity,  which  created  out  of  the  episcopate  a  centre, 
first  for  each  congregation,  then  for  each  diocese,  pressed  -on 
towards  a  visible  centre  for  the  whole  church.  Primacy  and 
episcopacy  grew  together.  In  the  present  joeriod  we  already 
find  the  faint  beginnings  of  the  papacy,  in  both  its  good  and  its 
evil  features ;  and  with  them,  too,  the  first  examples  of  earnest 
protest  against  the  abuse  of  its  power. 

The  historical  influences  which  favored  the  ascendency  of  the 
Roman  see  were :  (1)  The  high  antiquity  of  the  Roman  church, 
which  had  been  honored  even  by  Paul  with  the  most  important 
doctrinal  epistle  of  the  New  Testament ;  it  was  properly  the  only 
apostolic  mother-church  in  the  West,  and  was  thus  looked  upon 
from  the  first  by  the  churches  of  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain,  with  pecu- 
liar reverence.  (2)  The  labors,  martyrdom,  and  burial  at  Rome 
of  Peter  and  Paul,  the  two  leading  apostles.  (3)  The  political 
preeminence  of  that  metropolis  of  the  world,  which  was  destined 
to  rule  with  the  sceptre  of  the  cross,  as  she  had  formerly  ruled 
with  the  sword  the  European  race.  (4)  The  executive  wisdom 
and  the  catholic  orthodox  instinct  of  the  Roman  church,  which 
made  themselves  felt  in  this  period  in  the  three  controversies  on 
the  time  of  caster,  the  penitential  discipline,  and  the  validity  of 
heretical  baptism.  To  these  may  be  added,  as  secondary  causes, 
her  firmness  under  persecutions,  and  her  benevolent  care  for 
suffering  brethren,  even  in  distant  places,  as  celebrated  by  Dio- 
nysius  of  Corinth  (180)  and  Eusebius. 

The  first  example  of  the  exercise  of  a  sort  of  papal  authority 
has  been  found  in  the  letter  of  the  Roman  bishop  Clement 
(■|-102)  to  the  bereaved  and  distracted  church  of  Corinth.  But 
this  epistle,  full  of  beautiful  exhortations  to  harmony,  love,  and 
humility,  is  sent,  as  the  very  introduction  shows,^  not  in  the 
bishop's  own  name,  but  in  that  of  the  Roman  congregation,  and 


428  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

has  besides,  anything  but  a  hierarchical  tone.  It  was  a  service 
of  love,  proffered  by  one  church  to  another  in  time  of  need. 
Yet  it  is  worthy  of  notice,  after  all,  that  the  Ilornan  church  here 
Qieets  in  calm  dignity  the  most  important  church  of  Greece, 
\;xhorts  her  to  order  and  unity,  and  betrays  a  considerable 
tlegree  of  practical  administrative  wisdom. 

Ignatius,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  knows  nothing  of  a 
primacy.  True,  in  his  epistle  to  the  Roman  church,  he  applies 
to  her  at  once,  in  the  salutation,  a  host  of  honorable  titles,  and 
calls  her,  even  according  to  the  Syriac  version,  'rrpoxa^rnxivri  Tr,g 
dya-jfyjc:^  presidens  in  caritate,  "taking  the  lead  in  love."  But 
he  certainly  does  not  intend  b}^  this,  as  the  artificial  interpreta- 
tion of  some  Roman  Catholic  scholars,  even  Mcihlcr,^  would  have 
it:  "Head  of  the  love-union  of  Christendom."  He  designs 
merely  to  commend  the  love  and  beneficence  of  that  church 
towards  others,  as  Dionysius  of  Corinth  also  did  after  the  middle 
of  the  second  century.  The  bishop  of  Rome  is  not  even  men- 
tioned in  the  whole  epistle ;  the  church  alone  is  addressed 
throughout.  Far  from  ascribing  to  him  a  superior  authority 
to  his  own,  and  with  a  lively  sense  of  his  own  inferiority  to 
the  apostles,  he  tells  the  Romans :  "  I  do  not  command  you  as  if 
I  were  Peter  or  Paul ;  they  were  apostles." 

Yet  we  unquestionably  find,  even  before  the  close  of  the 
second  century,  unequivocal  traces  of  an  honorary  pre-eminence 
of  the  Roman  church. 

Irenacus  calls  her  the  greatest,  the  oldest  (?)  church,  acknow- 
ledged by  all,  founded  by  the  two  most  illustrious  apostles,  Peter 
and  Paul,  the  church,  with  which,  on  account  of  her  more  im- 
portant precedence,  all  Christendom  must  agrec.^  The  "more 
important  precedence"  places  her  above   the  other  apostolic 

'  ratrol.  i.  144. 

*  The  famous  jjiussage,  Adv.  haer.  iii.  3  §  2,  is,  however,  only  extant  in  Latin,  and  is 
of  somewhat  disputed  interpretation :  Ad  hanc  enini  ecclcsiam  propter  potentiorem 
(according  to  Massuot's  conjecture:  potiorein)  principalitatem  necos.«o  est  omnem 
convonire  ecclesiam,  hoc  est,  cos  qui  sunt  undiquo  fideles,  in  qua  semper  ab  his,  qui 
sunt  undique,  conservata  e.st  ab  apostolis  traditio.     In  the  original  Greek  it  probably 

read:    W^'ti  rat^rnv  yilo  rill'  i  K\ri<Ttav  6ia  ri/f  iKavMTtpav  nooTcinv  o-ii/i/inutc  (^not    cviep^t<T- 

Sai)  <!ci  (according  to  others:  diiyKi,  natural  necessitj')  Tno-m'  ri>  iKK^n"'"';  etc. 


§    110.      GEEMS   OF   THE   PAPACY.  429 

churches,  to  which  likewise  a  precedence  is  allowed.  This  is 
surely  to  be  understood,  however,  as  a  precedence  only  of  honor, 
not  of  jurisdiction.  For  when  pope  Victor,  about  the  year  190, 
in  hierarchical  arrogance  and  intolerance,  broke  fellowship  with 
the  churches  of  Asia  Minor  only  on  the  ground  of  their  peculiar 
easter  usage,  the  same  Irenaeus,  though  agreeing  with  him  on 
the  disputed  point  itself,  rebuked  him  very  emphatically  as  a 
troubler  of  the  peace  of  the  church,  and  declared  himself  against 
a  forced  uniformity  in  such  unessential  matters.  Nor  did  the 
Asiatic  churches  allow  themselves  to  be  intimidated  by  the  dic- 
tation of  Victor.  They  answered  the  Roman  tradition  with  that 
of  their  own  sedes  apostolicae,  till  the  council  at  Nice  at  last 
settled  the  controversy  in  favor  of  the  Roman  practice. 

Tertullian  points  the  heretics  to  the  apostolic  mother  churches, 
as  the  chief  repositories  of  pure  doctrine ;  and  among  these  gives 
special  prominence  to  that  of  Rome,  where  Peter  was  crucified,  Paul 
beheaded,  and  John  immersed  unhurt  in  boiling  oil  (?),  and  then 
banished  to  the  island.  Yet  the  same  father  became  afterwards 
an  opponent  of  Rome.  He  attacked  its  loose  penitential  discipline, 
and  called  the  Roman  bishop  (probably  Zephyrinus),  in  irony  and 
mockery,  "pontifex  maximus"  and  "episcopus  episcoporum." 

So  the  celebrated  Hippolytus,  in  the  beginning  of  the  third 
century,  was  a  decided  antagonist  of  the  Roman  bishops,  Zephy- 
rinus and  Callistus,  and  in  part  on  the  same  ground  of  lax  disci- 
pline. But  at  the  same  time,  we  learn  from  his  Philosophoumena, 
that  at  that  time  the  Roman  bishop  already  claimed  an  absolute 
power  within  his  own  jurisdiction ;  and  that  Callistus,  to  the  great 
grief  of  part  of  the  presbytery,  laid  down  the  principle,  that  a 
bishop  can  never  be  deposed  or  compelled  to  resign  by  the 
presbytery,  even  though  he  have  committed  a  mortal  sin. 

Cyprian  is  clearest,  both  in  his  advocacy  of  the  fundamental 
idea  of  the  papacy,  and  in  his  protest  against  the  mode  of  its  ap- 
plication in  a  given  case.  Starting  from  the  superiority  of  Peter, 
ujDon  whom  the  Lord  has  built  his  church,  and  to  whom  he  has 
intrusted  the  feeding  of  his  sheep,  in  order  to  represent  tliereby 
the  unity  in  the  college  of  apostles,  Cyprian  transferred  the  same 


430  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

superiority  to  the  Bishop  of  Eomc,  as  the  successor  of  Peter,  and 
accordingly  called  the  Roman  church  the  chair  of  Peter,  and  the 
fountain  of  priestly  unity,^  the  root,  also,  and  mother  of  the 
catholic  church.^  But  on  the  other  side,  he  asserts  with  equal 
energy  the  equality  and  relative  independence  of  the  bishops,  as 
successors  of  the  apostles,  who  had  all  an  equally  direct  appoint- 
ment from  Christ.  In  his  correspondence  he  uniformly  addresses 
the  Roman  bishop  as  "brother"  and  "colleague,"  conscious  of 
his  own  equal  dignity  and  authority.  And  in  the  controversy 
about  heretical  baptism,'^  he  opposes  pope  Stephen  with  almost 
Protestant  independence,  accusing  him  of  en'or  and  abuse  of  his 
power,  and  calling  a  tradition  without  truth  an  old  error.  Of 
this  protest  he  never  retracted  a  word. 

Still  more  sharp  and  unsparing  was  the  Cappadocian  bishop, 
Firmilian,  a  disciple  of  Origen,  on  the  bishop  of  Rome,  while 
likewise  imj)lying  a  certain  acknowledgment  of  his  papacy. 
Firmilian  charges  him  with  folly,  and  with  acting  unworthily  of 
his  position ;  because,  as  the  successor  of  Peter,  he  ought  rather 
to  further  the  unity  of  the  church  than  to  destroy  it,  and  ought 
to  abide  on  the  rock  foundation  instead  of  laying  a  new  one  by 
recognising  heretical  baptism.  Perhaps  the  bitterness  of  Firmi- 
lian was  due  partly  to  his  friendship  and  veneration  for  Origen, 
who  had  been  condemned  by  a  council  at  Rome. 

Nevertheless,  on  this  question  of  baptism,  also,  as  on  those  of 
easter,  and  of  penance,  the  Roman  church  came  out  victorious  in 
the  end. 

From  this  testimony  it  is  clear,  that  the  growing  influence  of 
the  Roman  see  was  rooted  in  public  opinion  and  in  the  need  of 
unity  in  the  ancient  church.  It  is  not  to  be  explained  at  all  by 
the  talents  and  the  ambition  of  the  incumbents.  On  the  contrary, 
the  personality  of  the  thirty  popes  of  the  first  three  centuries  fiills 
quite  remarkably  into  the  background;   though  they  are  all 

•  Petri  cathedram  atque  ecclesiain  principalem,  undo  unitas  sacerdotalis  cxorta  est. 
Epist.  Iv.  c.  19  (cd.  Bal.)  ad  Cornelium  cpisc.  Rom.     In  Goldlioni's  ed.  Kp.  lix.  VJ 
'  Ecclesiao  catholicao  radiccm  et  niatriccm.     Ep.  xl.  2  ed.  Bal.  (xlviii  ed.  Goldh. 
3  Comp.  §  104. 


§   110.      GERMS   OF  THE   PAPACY.  431 

canonized  saints,  and,  according  to  a  later  but  very  doubtful 
tradition,  were  also,  with  two  exceptions,  martyrs.^  Among  tliem, 
and  it  may  be  said  down  to  Leo  the  Great,  about  the  middle  of 
the  fifth  century,  there  was  hardly  one,  perhaps  Clement,  who 
could  compare,  as  a  church  leader,  with  an  Ignatius,  a  Cyprian, 
and  an  Ambrose ;  or,  as  a  theologian,  with  an  Irenaeus,  a  Tertul- 
lian,  an  Athanasius,  and  an  Augustine.  Jerome,  among  his  hun- 
dred and  thirty-six  church  celebrities,  brings  in  only  four  Eoman 
bishops,  Clement,  Victor,  Cornelius,  and  Damasus,  and  even  these 
wrote  only  a  few  epistles.  Hippolytus,  in  his  Philosophoumena, 
written  about  230,  even  presents  two  contemporaneous  popes,  St. 
Zephyrinus  (202-218)  and  Callistus  (St.  Calixtus  I.,  218-223), 
from  his  own  observation,  though  not  without  partisan  feeling, 
in  a  most  unfavorable  light ;  charging  the  first  with  ignorance  and 
avarice,  the  second  with  scandalous  conduct  (he  is  said  to  have 
been  once  a  swindler  and  a  fugitive  slave  rescued  from  suicide), 
and  both  of  them  with  the  Patripassian  heresy.  Such  charges 
could  not  have  been  mere  fabrications  with  so  honorable  an  author 
as  Hippolytus,  even  though  he  was  a  schismatic  rival  bishop  to 
Callistus ;  they  must  have  had  at  least  some  basis  of  fact. 

It  is  further  worthy  of  remark,  that  just  the  oldest  links  in  the 
chain  of  Eoman  bishops  are  veiled  in  impenetrable  darkness. 
While  Tertullian  and  most  of  the  Latins  (and  the  pseudo-Cle- 
mentina) make  Clement  the  first  successor  of  Peter,  Irenaeus, 
Eusebius,  and  other  Greeks  (also  Jerome  and  the  Eoman  Cata- 
logue) give  him  the  third  place,  and  put  Linus^  and  Anacletus 
between  him  and  Peter.  Perhaps  Linus  and  Anacletus  acted 
during  Peter's  life  as  his  assistants,  or  presided  only  over  one 
part,  the  Jewish-Christian,  Petrine  portion  of  the  church,  while 
Clement  may  have  had  charge  of  the  Gentile-Christian,  or  Pauline 
branch ;  for,  at  that  early  day,  the  government  of  the  congrega- 
tion was  hardly  so  centralized  as  it  afterwards  became.     Further- 

■  Irenaeus  recognises  among  the  Roman  bishops  from  Clement  to  Eleutherus  (177)^ 
all  of  whom  he  mentions  by  name,  only  one  martyr,  to  wit,  Telesphorus,  of  whom  he 
says:  "Of  Kal  evSo^c^i  ifiapripnacv,  Adv.  haer.  III.,  c.  3,  §  3.  So  Eusebius,  H. 
E.  Y.  6.  From  this  we  may  judge  of  the  value  of  tlie  Roman  Catholic  tradition  on 
tills  point.  "  2  Tim.  iv.  21. 


432  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

more,  the  earliest  fathers,  with  a  true  sense  of  the  distinction 
between  the  apostohc  and  episcopal  offices,  do  not  reckon  Petei 
among  the  bishops  of  Rome  at  all ;  and  the  Roman  Catalogue 
in  placing  Peter  in  the  line  of  bishops,  is  strangely  regardless  of 
Paul,  whose  independent  labors  in  Rome  are  attested  not  onl} 
by  tradition,  but  by  the  clear  witness  of  his  own  epistles  and  thf 
book  of  Acts. 

After  all,  however,  it  must  in  justice  be  admitted  that  the  lis! 
of  Roman  bishops  has  by  far  the  preeminence,  in  age,  complete- 
ness, integrity  of  succession,  consistency  of  doctrine  and  policy, 
and  weight  of  name,  above  every  similar  catalogue,  not  excepting 
those  of  Jerusalem,  Antioch,  Alexandria,  and  Constantinople ; 
and  must  carry  great  weight  with  every  one,  who  grounds  his 
views  chiefly  on  external  testimonies,  without  being  able  to  rise 
to  the  free  Protestant  view  of  Christianity  and  its  history  on 
earth. 

§  111.     Tlie  Catholic   Unity. 

(Corap.  §§  74,  7G,  and  108.) 

Besides  Mohler  (1.  c),  and  especially  Rotiie  (1.  c.  p.  553-711),  comp.  also  Hu 
THER :  Cyprians  Lehre  von  der  Einheit  der  Kirche.  Hanib.  1839.  J.  W 
Nevin  :    Cyprian  ;    4  articles  in  the  '•  ^lercersburg  Review,"  1852. 

In  connexion  with  Paul's  idea  of  the  unity,  holiness,  and  uni 
versality  of  the  church,  as  the  body  of  Christ ;  hand  in  hand 
with  the  episcopal  system  of  government;  in  the  form  of  fact 
rather  than  of  dogma ;  and  in  perpetual  conflict  with  heathen 
persecution  from  without,  and  heretical  and  schismatic  tendencies 
within — arose  the  idea  and  the  institution  of  the  sancta  ecclesia 
catholica,  as  the  Apostles'  Creed  has  it ;  or,  in  the  fuller  language 
of  the  Nicene-Constantinopolitan,  the  una  sancta  catholica 
apostolica  ecclesia.  In  both  the  ecumenical  symbols,  as  even  in 
the  more  indefinite  creeds  of  the  second  and  tliird  centuries,  on 
which  those  symbols  are  based,  the  church  appears  as  an  article 
of  faith,'  presupposing  and  necessarily  following  fliith  in  the 

'  Credo  eccl.,  yet  not  in  (tij)  eccl.,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Divine  persons. 


§    111.      THE   CATHOLIC    UNITY.  433 

Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  as  a  holy  fellowship,^ 
within  which  the  various  benefits  of  grace,  from  the  forgiveness 
of  sins  to  the  life  everlasting,  are  enjoyed.  Nor  is  any  distinc- 
tion made  here  between  a  visible  and  an  invisible  church.  All 
catholic  antiquity  thought  of  none  but  the  empirical,  historical 
church,  and  without  hesitation  applied  to  this,  while  yet  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world  a  small  persecuted  sect,  those  five  predicates  of 
unity,  universality,  holiness,  exclusiveness,  and  apostolicity  (in- 
fallibility and  indestructibility  were  afterwards  added),  which 
are  certainly  inseparable  from  the  ideal  kingdom  of  Christ. 
There  sometimes  occur,  indeed,  particularly  in  the  Novatian 
schism,  hints  of  the  incongruity  between  the  empirical  reality 
and  this  idea ;  and  this  incongruity  became  still  more  palpable,. 
at  least  in  regard  to  the  predicate  of  holiness,  after  the  abatement 
of  the  spiritual  elevation  of  the  apostolic  age,  the  cessation  of  per- 
secution, and  the  decay  of  discipline.  But  the  unworthiness  of 
individual  members  and  the  external  servant-form  of  the  church 
were  not  allowed  to  mislead  as  to  the  general  objective  charac- 
ter, which  belonged  to  her  in  virtue  of  her  union  with  her  glori- 
ous heavenly  Head.  The  fathers  of  our  period  all  saw  in  the 
church,  though  with  different  degrees  of  clearness,  a  divine,  su- 
pernatural order  of  things,  in  a  certain  sense  the  continuation  of 
the  life  of  Christ  on  earth,  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  sole 
repository  of  the  powers  of  divine  life,  the  possessor  and  inter- 
preter of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  mother  of  all  the  faithflil.  She 
is  holy  because  she  is  separated  from  the  service  of  the  profane 
world,  is  animated  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  forms  her  members  tO' 
holiness,  and  exercises  the  strictest  discipline.  She  is  catholic, 
that  is  (according  to  the  precise  sense  of  oXo^c,  which  denotes  not 
so  much  numerical  totality  as  wholeness),  complete,  and  alone  true, 
in  distinction  from  all  particularistic  parties  and  sects.  Catholi- 
city, strictly  taken,  includes  the  three  marks  of  universality,  unity, 
and  exclusiveness,  and  is  an  essential  property  of  the  church  as 
the  body  and  organ  of  Christ,  who  is,  in  fact,  the  only  Redeemer 


Communio  sanctorum. 

28 


43  J:  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

for  all  men.  Equally  inseparable  from  her  is  the  predicate  of 
apostolicity,  that  is,  the  historical  continuity  or  unbroken  succes- 
sion, which  reaches  back  through  the  bishops  to  the  apostles, 
from  the  apostles  to  Christ,  and  from  Christ  to  God.  In  the 
view  of  the  fathers,  every  theoretical  departure  from  this  empiri- 
cal, tangible,  catholic  church  is  heresy,  that  is,  arbitrary,  subject- 
ive, ever  changing  human  opinion ;  every  practical  departure,  all 
disobedience  to  her  rulers  is  schism,  or  dismemberment  of  the 
body  of  Christ;  either  is  rebellion  against  divine  authority, 
and  a  heinous,  if  not  the  most  heinous,  sin.  No  heresy  can  reach 
the  conception  of  the  church,  or  rightly  claim  any  one  of  her  pre- 
dicates ;  it  forms  at  best  a  sect  or  party,  and  consequently  falls 
within  the  province  and  the  fate  of  human  and  perishing  things, 
while  the  church  is  divine  and  indestructible. 

This  is  without  doubt  the  view  of  the  ante-Nicene  fathers, 
even  of  the  speculative  and  spiritualistic  Alexandrians.  But 
the  most  important  personages  in  the  development  of  the  doc- 
trine concerning  the  church  are,  again,  Ignatius,  Irenaeus,  and 
Cyprian.  Their  whole  doctrine  of  the  episcopate  is  intimately 
connected  with  their  doctrine  of  the  catholic  unity,  and  deter- 
mined by  it.  For  the  ej^iscopate  is  of  value  in  their  eyes  only 
as  the  indispensable  means  of  maintaining  and  promoting  this 
unity ;  while  they  are  compelled  to  regard  the  bishops  of  heretics 
and  schismatics  as  rebels  and  antichrists. 

In  the  Epistles  of  Ignatius  the  unity  of  the  church,  in  the 
form  and  through  the  medium  of  the  episcopate,  is  the  funda- 
mental tliought  and  the  leading  matter  of  exhortation.  The 
author  calls  himself  a  man  prepared  for  union  .^  He  also  is  the 
first  to  use  the  term  catholic  in  the  ecclesiastical  sense,  when  he 
says  :^  "  Where  Christ  Jesus  is,  there  is  the  catholic  church ;" 
that  is,  the  closely  united  and  full  totality  of  his  people.  Only 
in  her,  according  to  his  view,  can  we  eat  the  broad  of  God ;  he, 
who  follows  a  schismatic,  inherits  not  the  kingdom  of  God.^  We 
meet  similar  views,  although  not  so  clearly  and  strongly  stated, 

'   ,)  3  I'.i—i/  {I'j  h'l.tatv  KaTrtoTiiTiilvnv,  ^   Ad  SmjTn.  c.  8. 

3  Ad  Ephes.  c.  5.     Ad  Trail,  o.  7.     Ad  Philad.  c.  3,  eta 


§    111.      THE   CATHOLIC    UNITY.  435 

in  the  Eoman  Clement's  First  Epistle  to  tlie  Corintliians,  in  the 
letter  of  the  church  of  Smyrna  on  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp, 
and  in  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas. 

Irenaeus  speaks  much  more  at  large  respecting  the  church. 
He  calls  her  the  haven  of  rescue,  the  way  of  salvation,  the 
entrance  to  life,  the  paradise  in  this  world,  of  whose  trees,  to 
wit,  the  holy  Scriptures,  we  may  eat,  excepting  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  which  he  takes  as  a  type  of  heresy. 
The  church  is  inseparable  from  the  Holy  Ghost ;  it  is  his  home, 
and  indeed  his  only  dwelling-place  on  earth.  "Ubi  ecclesia," 
says  he,^  putting  the  church  first,  in  the  genuine  catholic  spirit, 
"  ibi  et  Spiritus  Dei,  et  ubi  Spiritus  Dei,  illic  ecclesia  et  omnis 
gratia."  (Protestantism  would  say,  conversely:  "Where  the 
Spirit  of  God  is,  there  is  the  church,  and  where  the  church  is, 
there  is  the  Spirit  of  God  and  all  grace.")  Only  on  the  bosom 
of  the  church,  continues"  he,  can  we  be  nursed  to  life.  To  her 
must  we  flee,  to  be  made  partakers  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  separa- 
tion from  her  is  separation  from  the  fellowship  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Heretics,  in  his  view,  are  enemies  of  the  truth  and  sons 
of  Satan,  and  will  be  swallowed  up  by  hell,  like  the  company 
of  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram.  Characteristic  in  this  respect 
is  the  well-known  legend,  which  he  relates,  about  the  meeting 
of  the  apostle  John  with  the  Gnostic  Cerinthus,  and  of  Polycarp 
with  Marcion,  the  "first-born  of  Satan." 

Tertullian  is  the  first  to  make  that  comparison  of  the  church 
with  Noah's  ark,  which  has  since  become  classical ;  and  he  like- 
wise attributes  heresies  to  the  devil,  without  any  qualification. 
But  as  to  schism,  he  was  himself  guilty  of  it  since  he  joined  the 
Montanists  and  bitterly  opposed  the  Catholics  in  questions  of 
discipline. 

Even  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  Origen,  with  all  their  spi- 
ritualistic and  idealizing  turn  of  mind,  are  no  exception  here. 
The  latter,  in  the  words:  "Extra  hanc  domum,  id  est  extra 
ecclesiam,  nemo  salvatur,"^  brings  out  the  principle  of  the  catho- 
lic exclusiveness  as  unequivocally  as  Cyprian.     Yet  we  find  in 

'  Adv.  haer.  iii.  2-i.  •  Horn.  3  in  Josuam,  c.  5. 


436  SECOND   PERIOD,   A.D,    100-311- 

him,  together  with  very  severe  judgments  of  heretics,  mild  and 
tolerant  expressions  also ;  and  he  even  supposes,  on  the  ground 
of  Rom.  ii.  6  sqq.,  that  in  the  future  life  honest  Jews  and 
heathens  will  attain  a  suitable  reward,  a  low  grade  of  blessed- 
ness, though  not  the  "life  everlasting"  in  the  proper  sense. — Of 
the  other  Greek  divines  of  the  third  century,  Methodius  in  par- 
ticular, an  opponent  of  Origen,  takes  high  views  of  the  church, 
and  in  his  Symposium  poetically  describes  it  as  "  the  garden  of 
God  in  the  beauty  of  eternal  spring,  shining  in  the  richest  splen- 
dor of  immortalizing  fruits  and  flowers;"  as  the  virginal, 
unspotted,  ever  young  and  beautiful  royal  bride  of  the  divine 
Logos. 

Finally,  Cyprian,  in  his  Epistles,  and  especially  in  his  tract: 
De  Unitate  Ecclesiae,  written  in  the  year  251,  amidst  the  distrac- 
tions of  the  Novatian  schism,  and  not  without  an  intermixture 
of  party  spirit,  has  most  distinctly  and  most  forcibly  developed 
the  old  catholic  doctrine  of  the  church,  her  unity,  universality, 
and  exclusiveness.  The  church,  he  here  teaches,  was  founded 
from  the  first  by  Christ  on  Peter  alone,  that,  with  all  the  equality 
of  power  among  the  apostles,  unity  might  still  be  kept  promi- 
nent as  essential  to  her  being.  She  has  ever  since  remained  one, 
in  unbroken  episcopal  succession;  as  there  is  only  one  sun, 
though  his  rays  are  everywhere  diffused.  Try  once  to  separate 
the  ray  from  the  sun ;  the  unity  of  the  light  allows  no  division. 
Break  the  branch  from  the  tree ;  it  can  produce  no  fruit.  Cut 
off  the  brook  from  the  fountain ;  it  dries  up.  Out  of  this  em- 
pirical orthodox  church,  episcopally  organized  and  centralized 
in  Rome,  Cyprian  can  imagine  no  Christianity  at  all  ;^  not  only 
among  the  Gnostics  and  other  radical  heretics,  but  even  among 
the  Novatians,  who  varied  from  the  Catholics  in  no  essential 
point  of  doctrine,  but  only  elected  an  opposition  bishop  in  the 
interest  of  their  rigorous  penitential  discipline.  AVhoever  sepa- 
rates himself  from  the  catholic  church  is  a  foreigner,  a  profane 
person,   an  enemy,  condemns  himself,   and  must  be   shunned. 

•  Christianus  non  est,  qui  iu  Cliristi  ecclcsia  non  est. 


§    111.      THE   CATHOLIC   UNITY.  437 

No  one  can  have  God  for  his  father,  who  has  not  her  for  his 
mother.^  As  well  might  one  out  of  the  ark  of  Noah  have 
escaped  the  flood,  as  one  out  of  the  church  be  saved  ;2  because 
she  alone  is  the  bearer  of  the  Holy  Grhost  and  of  all  grace. 

In  the  controversy  on  heretical  baptism  Cyprian  carried  out 
the  principle  of  exclusiveness  even  more  consistently  than  the 
Roman  church.  For  he  entirely  rejected  such  baptism,  while 
Stephen  held  it  valid,  and  thus  had  to  concede,  in  strict  consis- 
tency, the  possibility  of  regeneration,  and  hence  of  salvation, 
outside  the  Catholic  church.  Here  is  a  point  where  even  the 
Eoman  system,  generally  so  consistent,  has  a  loophole  of  liberal- 
ity, and  practically  gives  up  her  theoretical  principle  of  exclu- 
siveness. But  in  carrying  out  this  principle,  even  in  per- 
sistent opposition  to  the  pope,  in  whom  he  saw  the  successor 
of  Peter  and  the  visible  centre  of  unity,  Cyprian  plainly  denied 
the  supremacy  of  Roman  jurisdiction  and  the  existence  of  an 
infallible  tribunal  for  the  settlement  of  doctrinal  controversies, 
and  protested  against  identifying  the  church  in  general  with  the 
church  of  Rome.  And  if  he  had  the  right  of  such  protest  in 
favor  of  strict  exclusiveness,  should  not  the  Grreek  church,  and 
above  all  the  Evangehcal,  much  rather  have  the  right  of  protest 
against  the  Roman  exclusiveness,  and  in  favor  of  a  more  free 
and  comprehensive  conception  of  the  church  ? 

While  we  freely  acknowledge  the  profound  and  beautiful 
truth  at  the  bottom  of  this  old  catholic  doctrine  of  the  church, 
and  the  historical  necessity  of  it  for  that  period  of  persecution, 
as  well  as  for  the  great  missionary  work  among  the  barbarians 
of  the  middle  ages,  we  cannot  but  perceive  that  the  doctrine 
rested  in  part  on  a  fallacy,  which,  in  course  of  time,  after  the 
union  of  the  church  with  the  state,  or,  in  other  words,  with  the 
world,  became  more  and  more  glaring,  and  provoked  an  internal 
protest  of  ever-growing  force.  It  blindly  identified  the  spiritual 
unity  of  the  church  with  unity  of  organization,  insisted  on  out- 
ward uniformity  at  the  expense  of  free  development,  and  con- 

'  Habere  non  potest  Deum  patrem,  qui  ecclesiam  uoa  habet  matrem. 
"  Extra  ecclesiam  nulla  salus. 


438  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

founded  the  faulty  empirical  church,  or  a  temporary  phase  of 
the  development  of  Christianity,  with  the  ideal  and  eternal  king- 
dom of  Christ,  which  will  not  be  perfect  in  its  manifestation 
until  the  glorious  second  coming  of  its  Head. 

Finally,  no  effort  after  outward  unity  could  prevent  the  dis- 
tinction of  an  Oriental  and  Occidental  church  from  showing  itself 
at  this  early  period,  in  language,  customs,  and  theology ; — a  dis- 
tinction which  afterwards  led  to  a  schism  to  this  day  unhealed. 

§  112.     Councils. 

C.  J.  Hefele  (R.  C.)  :  Conciliengeschichte,  Freiburg.  Yol.  I.,  1855  (p.  69- 
118).  E.  B.  Pusey:  The  Councils  of  the  Church,  from  the  Council  of 
Jerusalem,  a.d.  51,  to  the  Council  of  Constantinople,  a.d.  381 ;  chiefly  as 
to  their  constitution,  but  also  as  to  their  objects  and  history.     Lond.  1857. 

Besides  the  mutual  intercourse  of  the  bishops,  councils^  were 
an  important  means  of  maintaining  and  promoting  ecclesiastical 
unity.  They  were  the  highest  organs  of  legislation  and  con- 
trol in  the  church,  and  especially  of  the  settlement  of  doctrinal 
controversies.  Though  having  precedent  and  sanction  in  the 
apostolical  council  at  Jerusalem,^  they  do  not  occur  distinctly  till 
the  middle  of  the  second  century  in  the  disputes  concerning 
Montanism  and  Easter.  At  the  beginning  of  the  third  century, 
first  in  Greece,  where  the  spirit  of  association  had  continued 
strong  since  the  days  of  the  Achaean  league,  and  then  in  Asia 
and  North  Africa,  regular  provincial  synods  were  formed. 
These  were  held,  so  far  as  the  stormy  circumstances  allowed, 
once  or  twice  a  year,  in  the  metropolis,  under  the  presidency  of 
the  metropolitan,  who  thus  gradually  acquired  a  supervision 
over  the  other  l)ishops  of  the  province. 

The  meetings  were  public,  and  the  people  of  the  community 
around  sometimes  made  their  influence  felt.  In  the  time  of  Cy- 
prian presbyters,  confessors  and  laymen  took  an  active  part,  a  cus- 

'  Concilium,  first  used  in  the  ecclesiastical  sense  by  Tcrtulliim,  De  jij'"'-  c.  13; 
ovvoioi,  first  in  the  pseudo-Apostolical  Constit.,  v.  20,  and  the  Cations,  c.  3G  or  38. 
2  A.D.  50.     Acts  XV.  and  Gal  ii. 


§  112.     COUNCILS.  439 

torn  wKicli  seems  to  have  the  sanction  of  apostolic  practice,^  At 
the  Synod  which  met  about  256,  in  the  controversy  on  heretical 
baptism,  there  were  present  eighty-seven  bishops,  very  many 
priests  and  deacons,  and  "maxima  pars  plebis;"-  and  in  the  sy- 
nods concerning  the  restoration  of  the  Lapsi,  Cj^prian  convened 
besides  the  bishops,  his  clergy,  the  "  confessores,"  and  "  laicos 
stantes"  (i.  e.  in  good  standing).^  Nor  was  this  practice  con- 
fined to  North  Africa.  "We  meet  it  in  Syria,  at  the  synods  con- 
vened on  account  of  Paul  of  Samosata  (264-269),  and  in  Spain 
at  the  council  of  Elvira.  Origen,  who  was  merely  a  presbyter, 
was  the  leading  spirit  of  two  Arabian  synods,  and  convinced  there 
bishop  Beryllus  of  his  christological  error.  Even  the  Roman 
clergy,  in  their  letter  to  Cyprian,'*  speak  of  a  common  synodical 
consultation  of  the  bishops  with  the  priests,  deacons,  confessors, 
and  "  laicis  stantibus."  But  with  the  advance  of  the  hierarchical 
spirit,  this  republican  feature  gradually  vanished.  After  the 
council  of  Nice  (325)  bishops  alone  had  seat  and  voice,  and  the 
priests  appear  hereafter  merely  as  secretaries,  or  advisers,  or 
representatives  of  their  bishops.  The  bishops,  moreover,  did  not 
act  as  representatives  of  their  churches,  nor  in  the  name  of  the 
body  of  the  believers,  as  formerly,  but  in  their  own  right  as 
successors  of  the  apostles.  They  did  not  as  yet,  however,  in 
this  period,  claim  infallibility  for  their  decisions,  unless  we  choose 
to  find  a  slight  approach  to  such  a  claim  in  the  formula :  "  Placuit 
nobis  Sancto  Spiritu  suggerente,"  as  used,  for  example,  by  the 
council  of  Carthage,  in  252.^    At  all  events,  their  decrees  at  that 


'  Comp.  Acts  XV.  6,  1,  12,  13,  23,  where  the  "brethren"  are  mentioned  expressly, 
besides  the  apostles  and  elders,  as  members  of  the  council,  even  at  the  final  decision 
and  in  the  pastoral  letter. 

^  Cyprian,  Opera,  p.  329,  ed.  Baluz.  In  the  acts  of  this  council,  however,  (p.  330- 
338)  the  bishops  only  appear  as  voters,  from  which  Hefele  (1.  c.  I.  17)  infers  that  the 
laity  and  even  the  presbyters  had  no  votum  decisivnira.  But  in  several  old  councils 
the  presbyters  and  deacons  subscribed  their  names  after  those  of  the  bishops  ;  see 
Harduin,  Coll.  Cone.  I.  250  and  266  sq. 

^  P'ipp.  xi.,  xiil,  Ixvi.,  Ixxi.  4  Bp_  xxxi. 

5  Cyprian,  Ep.  liv.,  on  the  ground  of  the  t^n^e  r&j  ayuo  Trvciixart  Kal  /j/uV,  visum 
est  Spiritui  Sancto  et  nobis,  Acts  xv.  28.  So,  also,  the  council  of  Aries,  a.d.  314: 
Placuit  ergo,  presente  Spiritu  Sancto  et  angelis  ejus  (Ilarduin  Coll.  Concil.  I.  262). 


440  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

time  could  lay  no  claim  to  universal  validity.  The  more  import- 
ant acts,  such  as  electing  bishops,  excommunication,  decision  of 
controversies,  were  communicated  to  other  provinces  by  epistolae 
synodicae.  In  the  intercourse  and  the  translation  of  individual 
members  of  churches,  letters  of  recommendation^  from  the  bishop 
were  commonly  employed. 

As  the  episcopate  culminated  in  tlie  primacy,  so  the  synodal 
system  rose  into  the  ecumenical  councils,  which  represented  the 
whole  church  of  the  Roman  em])ire.  But  these  could  not  be 
held  till  persecution  ceased,  and  the  emperor  became  the  patron 
of  Christianity.  The  first  was  the  celebrated  council  of  Nice,  in 
th6  year  325. 


§  113.     Collections  of  Ecclesiastical  Law. 

I.  Atara/yoM;  -tiliv  aytcov  'ArtotJi'oT.toi'  5ta  K^.^fifvroj,  etc.,  Constitutiones  Aposto- 

LiCAE,  in  Cotelie7''s  ed.  of  the  Patres  Apostolici  (I.  199  sqq.),  in  Mcmsi 
(Collect.  Concil.  I.),  and  Harduin  (Coll.  Cone.  I.),  newly  edited  by  Uelt- 
zerij  Rost.  1853.  Kavovii  ixxXrinia.riri.xol  tC^v  ay.  Arioato'Kuiv,  Canones,  qui 
dicuntur  Apostolorum,  in  most  collections  of  church  law,  and  in  Cotel. 
(I.  437  sqq.),  Mansi,  and  Harduin  (torn.  I.).  De  Lagarde:  Reliquiae 
juris  eccles.  antiquissimae  Syr.  et  Gr.  1856. 

II.  Krabbe  :  TJeber  den  Ursprung  u.  den  Inhalt  der  apost.  Constitutionen 

des  Clemens  Romanus.  Hamb.  1829.  S.  v.  Drey  (R.  C.)  :  Neue  Unter- 
sucliungen  uber  die  Constitut.  u.  Kanones  der  Ap.  Tiib.  1832.  J.  W. 
Bicicell:  Gesch.  des  Kirchenrechts.  Giess.  1843  (1. 1,  p.  52-255).  Chase: 
Constitutions  of  the  Holy  Apostles,  including  the  Canons ;  Whiston's 
version  revised  from  the  Greek ;  with  a  prize  essay  (of  Krabbe)  upon 
their  origin  and  contents.  New  York,  1848.  Bunsen  :  Hippolytus  u. 
seine  Zeit.  Leijiz.  1852  (I.  p.  418-525,  and  II.  p.  1-126 ;  and  in  ^hc  2d 
Engl.  ed.  Lond.  1854,  vols.  V-VII.).  IlEFELE(R.C.)Conciliengeschichte 
I.  p.  7G7  sqq. 

Towards  the  end  of  our  period  collections  of  church  laws  and 
usages  made  their  appearance.  Tradition  traced  them  to  apostolic 
origin ;  but  they  evidently  arose  at  various  periods  and  in  diifer- 
ent  j)arts  of  the  church,  and  hence  have  been  excluded  from  the 
canon  as  pseudo-apostolic.     They  are  valuable  chiefly  as  afford- 

•  Episiolac  formatae,  yp.i/i/.nTu  rtTurw/itia. 


§   113.      COLLECTIONS   OF   ECCLESIASTICAL   LAWS.  411 

ing  a  complete  view  of  the  government,  the  cultus,  and  the  prac- 
tical life  of  the  church  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries. 

The  oldest  collection  of  this  sort  is  the  "  Apostolical  Church 
Ord^r,"^  which  originated,  probably,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
third  century.  It  contains,  in  thirty-five  articles,  moral  precepts 
of  John,  and  ordinances  of  the  other  apostles  respecting  the 
duties  of  church  officers  and  of  laymen,  and  respecting  the  part 
of  women  in  the  functions  of  worship,  with  a  closing  exhortation 
from  Peter  to  obey  these  directions.  It  is  remarkable,  that  in  the 
account  of  the  pretended  acts  of  the  apostolic  council,  even  Martha 
and  Mary,  besides  the  apostles,  are  introduced  as  speaking. 

Much  more  famous  and  important  are  the  "Apostolic  Con- 
stitutions."^ The  work  is,  in  form,  a  fabrication,  profess- 
ing to  be  a  bequest  of  all  the  apostles,  handed  down  through  the 
Eoman  bishop  Clement,  or  dictated  to  him.  It  begins  with  the 
words :  "  The  apostles  and  elders,  to  all  who  among  the  nations 
have  believed  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Grace  be  with  you, 
and  peace,"  &c.  It  contains,  in  eight  books,  a  collection  of 
moral  exhortations,  church  laws  and  usages,  and  liturgical  formu- 
laries, which  had  gradually  arisen  in  the  various  churches  from 
the  close  of  the  first  century,  the  time  of  the  Roman  Clement, 
downward,  particularly  in  Jerusalem,  Antioch,  Alexandria,  and 
Rome,  partly  on  the  authority  of  apostolic  practice.  These  were 
at  first  orally  transmitted ;  then  committed  to  writing  in  differ- 
ent versions,  like  the  creeds;  and  finally  brought,  by  some 
unknown  hand,  into  their  present  form.  The  first  six  books, 
which  have  a  strong  Jewish-Christian  tone,  are  the  original  basis, 
and,  according  to  recent  investigations,  were  composed,  with  the 
exception  of  some  later  interpolations,  at  the  end  of  the  third  cen- 
tury, in  Syria  (according  to  Baur,  in  Rome).  The  seventh  and 
eighth  books,  each  of  which,  however,  forms  an  independent 
piece,  come  from  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  at  all 

*  Ordinatio  ecclesiastica  apostolorum,  known  through  Ethiopic  and  Arabic  MSS., 
and  recently  through  a  Greek  text  discovered  by  Bickell. 

2    Aiarayai  twv  'AirooToXwvj   also  A.^aaKaXin^  ^luni^fij,  SiSavi:^  SiSa^a't,  t(jv  'A'roordXtJi', 


442  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.   100-311. 

events,  from  a  period  before  the  council  of  Nice  (325).  The  col- 
lection of  the  three  parts  into  one  whole  may  be  the  work  of  the 
author  of  the  eighth  book.  The  design  was,  to  set  forth  the 
ecclesiastical  life  for  laity  and  clergy,  and  to  establish  the  episco- 
pal theocracy.  These  constitutions  were  more  used  and  consulted 
in  the  East  than  any  work  of  the  fathers,  and  were  taken  as  the 
rule  in  matters  of  discipline,  like  the  holy  Scriptures  in  matters  of 
doctrine.  Still  the  collection,  as  such,  did  not  rise  to  formal 
legal  authority,  and  the  second  Trullan  council  of  692  rejected  it 
for  its  heretical  interpolations,  while  the  same  council  acknow- 
ledged the  Apostolic  Canons. 

The  "Apostolic  Canons,"  consisting  of  brief  church  rules  or 
prescriptions,  in  some  copies  eighty-five  in  number,  in  others  fifty, 
and  pretending  to  be  of  apostolic  origin,  are  incorporated  in  the 
"Constitutions"  as  an  appendix  to  the  eighth  book,  but  are 
found  also  by  themselves,  in  Greek,  Syriac,  Ethiopic,  and  Arabic 
manuscripts.  Their  contents  are  borrowed  partly  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, especially  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  partly  from  tradition,  and 
partly  from  the  decrees  of  early  councils  at  Antioch,  Neo-Caesa- 
rea,  Nice,  Laodicea,  &;c.  (but  probably  not  Chalcedon,  451).  They 
are,  therefore,  evidently  of  gradual  growth,  and  were  collected 
either^  after  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  or^  not  till  the 
latter  part  of  the  fifth,  by  some  unknown  hand,  probably  also  in 
Syria.  They  are  designed  to  furnish  a  complete  system  of  dis- 
cipline for  the  clergy.  Of  the  laity  they  say  scarcely  a  word. 
The  eighty-fifth  and  last  canon  settles  the  canon  of  the  Scrip- 
ture, but  reckons  among  the  New  Testament  books  two  epistles 
of  Clement  and  the  genuine  books  of  the  pseudo-Apostolic  Con 
stitutions.  The  Greek  church,  at  the  Trullan  council  of  692, 
adopted  the  whole  collection  of  eighty-five  canons  as  authentic 
and  binding,  and  John  of  Damascus  even  placed  it  on  a  parallel 
with  the  epistles  of  the  apostle  Paul,  thus  showing  that  he  had 
no  sense  of  the  infinite  superiority  of  the  insj^ired  writings. 
The  Latin  church  rejected  it  at  first,  but  subsequently  decided 

*  As  Bickell  supposes.  ^  According  to  Dr.  von  Drey. 


§    11-i.      CHURCH   DISCIPLINE.  443 

for  the  smaller  collection  of  fifty  canons,  wliicli  Dionysius  Exi- 
guus  about  the  year  500  translated  from  a  Greek  manuscript. 


§  114.     Church  Discipline. 

I.  Several  Tracts  of  Tertullian  (especially  De  poenitentia).     The  Philoso- 

phoumena  of  Hippolytus  (1.  IX.).  The  Epistles  of  Cyprian,  and  his 
work  De  lapsis.  The  Epistolae  canonicae  of  Dionysius  of  Alex.,  Gre- 
gory Thaumaturgus  (about  260),  and  Peter  of  Alex,  (about  306),  col- 
lected in  RoutKs  Keliquiae  sacrae,  torn.  III.,  2nd  ed.  The  Constit. 
Apost.  II.  16,  21-24.  The  Canons  of  the  councils  of  Elvira,  Arelate, 
Ancyra,  Neo-  Caesarea,  and  Nice,  between  305  and  325  (in  the  Collec- 
tions of  Councils,  and  in  RoutKs  Keliq.  sacr.  torn.  lY.). 

II.  MoRiNUs:  De  disciplina  in  administratione  sacram.  poenitentiae,  XIII. 

primis  saec.  Par.  1651  (Venet.  1702).  Marshall  :  Penitential  Discipline 
of  the  Primitive  Church.     Lond.  1714  (new  ed.  1844). 

The  ancient  church  was  distinguished  for  strict  discipline. 
Previous  to  Constantine  the  Great,  this  discipline  rested  on 
purely  moral  sanctions,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with  civil  con- 
straints and  punishments.  It  had  in  view,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
dignity  and  purity  of  the  church,  on  the  other,  the  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  the  offender ;  punishment  being  designed  to  be  also  cor- 
rection. The  extreme  penalty  was  excommunication,  exclusion 
from  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  faithful.  This  was 
inflicted  for  heresy  and  schism,  and  all  gross  crimes,  such  as 
theft,  murder,  adultery,  blasphemy,  and  the  denial  of  Christ  in 
persecution.  After  Tertullian,  these  and  like  offences,  incompa- 
tible with  the  regenerate  state,  were  classed  as  mortal  sins,^  in 
distinction  from  venial  sins,  or  sins  of  weakness.^ 

Persons  thus  excluded  passed  into  the  class  of  penitents,^  and 
could  attend  only  the  catechumen  worship.     Before  they  could 

1  Peccata  mortalia,  or,  ad  mortem ;  after  a  rather  arbitrary  interpretation  of  1  Jno. 
V.  16.  Tertullian  gives  seven  mortal  sins:  Homieidium,  idololatria,  fraus,  negatio, 
blasphemia,  utique  et  moechia  et  fornicatio  et  si  qua  alia  violatio  templi  Dei.  De 
pudic.  c.  19.  These  he  declares  irremissibilia,  horum  laltra  exorator  non  erit  Chris- 
tus ;  that  is,  if  they  be  committed  afkr  baptism ;  for  baptism  washes  away  all 
former  guilt. 

2  Peccata  venialia.  ^  Poenitentes. 


444:  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

be  re-admitted  to  the  fellowship  of  the  church,  they  were  re- 
quired to  pass  through  a  process  like  that  of  the  catechumens, 
only  still  more  severe,  and  to  prove  the  sincerity  of  their  peni- 
tence by  abstinence  from  all  pleasures,  from  ornament  in  dress, 
and  from  nuptial  intercourse,  by  confession,  frequent  prayer, 
fasting,  almsgiving,  and  other  good  works.  Under  pain  of  a 
troubled  conscience  and  of  separation  from  the  only  saving 
church,  they  readily  submitted  to  the  severest  penances.  The 
church  teachers  did  not  neglect,  indeed,  to  inculcate  the  penitent 
spirit  and  the  contrition  of  the  heart  as  the  main  thing.  Yet 
many  of  them  laid  too  great  stress  on  certain  outward  exercises. 
Tertullian  conceived  the  entire  church  penance  as  a  satisfaction^ 
paid  to  God.  This  view  could  easily  obscure  to  a  dangerous 
degree  the  all-sufficient  merit  of  Christ,  and  lead  to  that  self- 
righteousness  against  which  the  Reformation  raised  so  loud  a 
voice. 

The  time  and  the  particular  form  of  the  penances,  in  the 
second  century,  was  left  as  yet  to  the  discretion  of  the  several 
ministers  and  churches.  Not  till  the  end  of  the  third  century 
was  a  rigorous  and  fixed  system  of  penitential  discipline  esta- 
blished, and  then  this  could  hardly  maintain  itself  a  century. 
Though  originating  in  deep  moral  earnestness,  and  designed  only 
for  good,  it  was  not  fitted  to  promote  the  genuine  spirit  of  repent- 
ance. Too  much  formality  and  outward  legal  constraint  always 
deadens  the  spirit,  instead  of  supporting  and  regulating  it.  This 
disciplinary  formalism  first  appears,  as  already  familiar,  in  the 
council  of  Ancyra,  in  the  year  314.  The  penitents  were  distri- 
buted into  four  classes : — 

(1)  The  weepers,^  who  prostrated  themselves  at  the  church 
doors  in  mourning  garments  and  implored  restoration  from  the 
clergy  and  the  people. 

(2)  The  hearers,^  who,  like  the  first  class  of  catechumens,  of 
the  same  name,  were  allowed  to  hear  the  Scripture  lessons  and 
the  sermon. 

*  Satisfactio.  '  UpoirK^nioirei,  Hcntes ;  also  called  ;^«i/ia{ui'r£f,  hiemantes. 

'  'Afpuco/y£i/')i,  audientcs,  or  auditores. 


§   114.      CHUKCH   DISCIPLINE.  445 

(3)  The  kneelers/  who  attended  the  pubhc  prayers,  but  only 
in  the  kneeling  posture. 

(4)  The  standers,^  who  could  take  part  in  the  whole  worship 
standing,  but  were  still  excluded  from  the  communion. 

These  classes  answer  to  the  four  stages  of  penance,^  the  last 
three  running  parallel  with  the  three  grades  of  the  catechume- 
nate.  The  course  of  penance  was  usually  three  or  four  years 
long,  but,  like  the  catechetical  preparation,  could  be  shortened 
according  to  circumstances,  or  extended  to  the  day  of  death.  In 
the  East  there  were  special  penitential  presbyters,*  intrusted  with 
the  oversight  of  the  penitential  discipline. 

After  the  fulfilment  of  this  probation  came  the  act  of  recon- 
ciliation.^ The  penitent  made  a  public  confession  of  sin,  received 
absolution  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  of  the  ministers,  and  precatory 
or  optative  benediction,^  was  again  greeted  by  the  congregation 
with  the  brotherly  kiss,  and  admitted  to  the  celebration  of  the 
communion.  For  the  ministry  alone  he  was  for  ever  disquali- 
fied. Cyprian  and  Firmilian,  however,  guard  against  the  view, 
that  the  priestly  absolution  of  hypocritical  penitents  is  uncondi- 
tional and  infallible,  and  can  forestall  the  judgment  of  God.^ 

In  reference  to  the  propriety  of  any  restoration  in  certain  cases, 
there  was  an  important  diiference  of  sentiment,  which  gave  rise 
to  several  schisms.  All  agreed  that  the  church  punishment  could 
not  forestall  the  judgment  of  God  at  the  last  day,  but  was  merely 


*  Tovvx'SivovTii,  genuflectentes :  also  iiraTriizTovres,  substrati. 
'  i;ui'((T7<i//£i">i,  consistentes. 

'  UontTKXiivfjti,  fletus ;  (i/fpduo-if,  auditus ;  uno'irrwo-i;,  prostratio,  humiliatio;  ffvoroiriy, 
consistentia. 

*  YlosafivTcooi  M  rng  fierafota;,  presb.  poenitentiarii.  *  Reconciliatio. 

6  The  declarative,  and  especially  the  direct  indicative  or  judicial  form  of  absolu- 
tion seems  to  be  of  later  origin. 

7  Cypr.  Epist.  LV.,  c  15:  Neque  enim  prejudicamus  Domino  judicaturo,  quomi- 
nus  si  poenitentiam  plenam  et  justam  peccatoris  invenerit  tunc  ratum  faciat,  quod  a 
nobis  fuerit  hie  statutum.  Si  vero  nos  aliquis  penitentiae  simulations  deluserit,  Deus, 
qui  non  deridetur,  et  qui  cor  hominis  intuetur,  de  his,  quae  nos  minus  perspeximus, 
judicet  et  suorum  sententiam  Dominus  emendet.  Comp.  the  similar  passages  in 
Epist.  LXXV.  4,  and  De  Lapsis,  c.  17.  But  if  the  church  can  err  in  imparting  abso- 
lution to  the  unworthy,  as  Cyprian  concedes,  she  can  err  also  in  withholding  abso- 
lution and  in  passing  sentence  of  excommunication. 


446  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

temporal,  and  looked  to  tlie  repentance  and  conversion  of  the 
subject.  But  it  was  a  question  whether  the  church  should 
restore  even  the  grossest  offender  on  his  confession  of  sorrow, 
or  should,  under  certain  circumstances,  leave  him  to  the  judg- 
ment of  God.  The  strict,  puritanic  party,  to  which  the  Monta- 
nists,  the  Novatians,  and  the  Donatists  belonged,  and,  for  a  time, 
the  whole  African  and  Spanish  Church,  took  ground  against 
the  restoration  of  those  who  had  forfeited  the  grace  of  baptism 
by  a  mortal  sin,  especially  by  denial  of  Christ ;  since,  otherwise, 
the  church  would  lose  her  characteristic  holiness,  and  encourage 
loose  morality.  The  moderate  party,  which  prevailed  in  the 
East,  in  Egypt,  and  especially  in  Rome,  and  was  so  far  the  catho- 
lic party,  held  the  principle  that  the  church  should  refuse  absolu- 
tion and  communion,  at  least  on  the  death-bed,  to  no  penitent 
sinner.     Paul  himself  restored  the  Corinthian  offender.^ 

■The  point  here  in  question  was  of  great  practical  moment  in  the 
times  of  persecution,  when  hundreds  and  thousands  renounced 
their  faith  through  weakness,  but  as  soon  as  the  danger  was 
passed,  pleaded  for  readmission  into  the  church,  and  were  very 
often  supported  in  their  plea  by  the  potent  intercessions  of  the 
martyrs  and  confessors,  and  their  libelli  pacis.  The  principle 
was :  necessity  knows  no  law.  A  mitigation  of  the  penitential 
discipline  seemed  in  such  cases  justified  by  every  consideration 
of  charity  and  policy.  So  great  was  the  number  of  lapsi  in  the 
Decian  persecution,  that  even  Cyprian  found  himself  compelled 
to  relinquish  his  former  rigoristic  views. 

The  strict  party  were  zealous  for  the  holiness  of  God ;  the 
moderate,  for  his  grace.  The  former  would  not  go  beyond  the 
revealed  forgiveness  of  sins  by  baptism,  and  were  content  with 
urging  the  lapsed  to  repentance,  without  offering  them  hope  of 
absolution  in  this  life.  The  latter  refused  to  limit  the  mercy  of 
God  and  expose  the  sinner  to  despair.  The  former  were  carried 
away  with  an  ideal  of  the  church  which  cannot  be  realized  till 
the  second  coming  of  Christ;  and  while  impelled  to  a  fanatical 

'  1  Cor.  V.   1  sqq.     Comp.  2  Cor.  ii.  5  sqq. 


§   115.      CHURCH  SCHISMS.  447 

separatism,  they  proved,  in  their  own  sects,  the  impossibility  of 
an  absolutely  pure  communion  on  earth.  The  others  not  rarely 
ran  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  a  dangerous  looseness,  were  quite 
too  lenient,  even  towards  mortal  sins,  and  sapped  the  earnestness 
of  the  Christian  morality. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  lax  penitential  discipline  had  its  chief 
support  from  the  end  of  the  second  century,  in  the  Roman  church. 
Tertullian  assails  that  church  for  this  with  bitter  mockery.  Hip- 
polytus,  soon  after  him,  does  the  same ;  though  no  Montanist, 
he  was  zealous  for  strict  discipline.  According  to  his  statement,^ 
evidently  made  from  fact,  the  pope  Callistus,  whom  a  later  age 
stamped  a  saint  because  it  knew  little  of  him,  admitted  bigami 
and  trigami  to  ordination,  maintained  that  a  bishop  could  not  be 
deposed,  even  though  he  had  committed  a  mortal  sin,  and 
appealed  for  his  view  to  Rom.  xiv.  4,  to  the  parable  of  the  tares 
and  the  wheat,  Matt.  xiii.  30,  and,  above  all,  to  the  ark  of  Noah, 
which  was  a  symbol  of  the  church,  and  which  contained  both 
clean  and  unclean  animals,  even  dogs  and  wolves.  In  short,  he 
considered  no  sin  too  great  to  be  loosed  by  the  power  of  the 
keys  in  the  church.  And  this  continued  to  be  the  view  of  his 
successors.  But  here  we  perceive,  also,  how  the  looser  practice 
in  regard  to  penance  was  connected  with  the  interest  of  the 
hierarchy.  It  favored  the  power  of  the  priesthood,  which  claimed 
for  itself  the  right  of  absolution ;  it  was  at  the  same  time  matter 
of  worldly  policy  ;  it  promoted  the  external  spread  of  the  church, 
though  at  the  expense  of  the  moral  integrity  of  her  membership, 
and  facilitated  both  her  subsequent  union  with  the  state  and  her 
hopeless  confusion  with  the  world.  No  wonder  the  church  of 
Rome,  in  this  point,  as  in  others,  triumphed  at  last  over  all  oppo- 
sition. 

§  115.     Church  Schisms. 

On  the  Schism  of  Fehcissimus :  Cypr.  :  Epist.  38-40,  42,  55. 

On  the  Novatian  Schism  :  Hippol.  :    Philosoph.  1.  IX.  Cypr.  :   Epist.  41-52 ; 

and  the  Epistles  of  Cornelius  of  Rome,  and  Dionys.  of  Alex.,  in  Euseb. 

H.  E.,  VI.  43-45,  VII.  8. 

'  Philosoph.  1.  IX.,  p.  290  (ed.  Oxon.). 


448  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

On  the  Meletian  Schism:  Documents  in  Latin  translation  in  MnffA:  Osserva- 
tioni  Letterarie.  Verona,  1738,  torn.  III.  p.  11  sqq.,  and  the  Gieek  frag- 
ments from  the  Liber  de  poenitentia  of  Peter  of  Alexandria  in  Ronth: 
Reliquiae  sacr.  vol.'  II.  p.  21-51.  Epiphan.  :  Haer.  68  (favorable  to  Me- 
letius),  Atiianas.  :  Apol.  contra  Arianos,  §  59,  and  after  him  SocR., 
SozoM.,  and  Tueod.  (very  unfavorable  to  Meletius). 

Out  of  this  controversy  on  the  restoration  of  the  lapsed,  pro- 
ceeded three  schisms  in  the  latter  half  of  the  third  century ;  one 
in  North  Africa,  one  in  Rome,  and  one  in  Egypt.  Montanism, 
too,  was  in  a  measure  connected  with  the  question  of  penitential 
discipline,  but  extended,  also,  to  several  other  points  of  Christian 
life.i 

1.  The  schism  of  Felicissimus,  at  Carthage,  about  the  year 
250,  originated  in  the  personal  dissatisfaction  of  five  presbytere 
with  the  hasty  and  irregular  election  of  Cyprian  to  the  bishopric, 
by  the  voice  of  the  congregation,  very  soon  after  his  baptism,  a.d. 
248.  At  the  head  of  this  opposition  party  stood  the  presbyter 
TTovatus,  an  unprincipled  ecclesiastical  demagogue,  of  restless, 
insubordinate  spirit  and  notorious  character,'  and  the  deacon 
Felicissimus,  whom  Novatus  ordained,  without  the  permission  or 
knowledge  of  Cyprian,  therefore  illegally,  whether  with  his  own 
hands  or  through  those  of  foreign  bishops.  The  controversy 
cannot,  however,  from  this  circumstance,  be  construed,  as  it  is 
by  Neander  and  others,  into  a  presbyterial  reaction  against 
episcopal  autocracy.  For  the  opposition  themselves  afterwards 
chose  a  bishop  in  the  person  of  Fortunatus.  The  Novatians 
and  the  Meletians  likewise  had  the  episcopal  form  of  or- 
ganization, though  doubtless  with  many  irregularities  in  the 
ordination. 

After  the  outbreak  of  the  Decian  persecution  this  personal 
rivalry  received  fresh  nourishment  and  new  importance  from 
the  question  of  discipline.     Cyprian  originally  held  Tertullian's 

I  1  Comp.  §  G7. 

*  Cyprian  charges  him  with  terrible  cruelties,  such  as  robbing;  widows  and  orphans, 
gross  abuse  of  his  father,  and  of  liis  wife  even  during  her  pregnancy;  and  says, 
that  he  was  aliout  to  be  arraigned  for  this  and  similar  misconduct,  when  the  Decian 
persecution  broke  out.     Ep.  49. 


§   115.      CHURCH   SCHISMS.  449 

principles,  and  utterly  opposed  tlie  restoration  of  the  lapsed,  till 
further  examination  changed  his  views.  Yet,  so  great  was  the 
multitude  of  the  fallen,  that  he  allowed  an  exception  in  periculo 
mortis.  His  opponents  still  saw  even  in  this  position  an  un- 
christian severity,  least  of  all  becoming  him,  who,  as  they  mis- 
represented him,  fled  from  his  post  for  fear  of  death.  They 
gained  the  powerful  voice  of  the  confessors,  who  in  the  face  of 
their  own  martyrdom  freely  gave  their  peace-bills  to  the  lapsed. 
A  regular  trade  was  carried  on  in  these  indulgences.  An  arro- 
gant confessor,  Lucian,  wrote  to  Cyprian  in  the  name  of  the  rest, 
that  he  granted  restoration  to  all  apostles,  and  begged  him  to 
make  this  known  to  the  other  bishops.  "We  can  easily  under- 
stand how  this  lenity  from  those  who  stood  in  the  fire,  might 
take  more  with  the  people,  than  the  strictness  of  the  bishop,  who 
had  secured  himself.  The  church  of  Novatus  and  Felicissimus 
was  a  resort  of  all  the  careless  lapsi.  Felicissimus  set  himself 
also  against  a  visitation  of  churches  and  a  collection  for  the  poor, 
which  Cyprian  ordered  during  his  exile.  When  the  bishop  re- 
turned, after  Easter,  251,  he  held  a  council  at  Carthage,  which, 
though  it  condemned  the  party  of  Felicissimus,  took  a  middle 
course  on  the  point  in  dispute.  It  sought  to  preserve  the  in- 
tegrity of  discipline,  yet  at  the  same  time  to  secure  the  fallen 
against  despair.  It  therefore  decided  for  the  restoration  of  those 
who  proved  themselves  truly  penitent,  but  against  restoring  the 
careless,  who  asked  the  communion  merely  from  fear  of  death. 
Cyprian  afterwards,  when  the  persecution  was  renewed  under 
Gallus,  abolished  even  this  limitation.  He  was  thus,  of  course, 
not  entirely  consistent,  but  gradually  accommodated  his  princi- 
ples to  circumstances  and  to  the  practice  of  the  Eoman  church.^ 
His  antagonists  elected  their  bishop,  indeed,  but  were  shortly 
compelled  to  yield  to  the  united  force  of  the  African  and  Eoman 
churches,  especially  as  they  had  no  moral  earnestness  at  the  bot- 
tom of  their  cause. 


•  In  Ep.  52,  Ad  Antonianum,  he  tried  to  justify  himself  in  regard  to  this  change 
in  his  views. 

29 


450  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-811. 

His  conflict  with  this  schismatical  movement  strengthened 
Cyprian's  episcopal  authority,  and  led  him  in  his  doctrine  of 
the  unity  of  the  church  to  the  principle  of  absolute  exclusive- 
ness.^ 

2.  The  NovATiAN  schism  in  Eome  was  prepared  by  the 
controversy  already  alluded  to  between  Hippolytus  and  Callistus. 
It  broke  out  soon  after  the  African  schism,  and,  like  it,  in  conse- 
quence of  an  election  of  bishop.  But  in  this  case  the  opposition 
advocated  the  strict  discipline  against  the  lenient  practice  of  the 
dominant  church.  The  Novatianists  considered  themselves  the 
only  pure  communion,^  and  unchurched  all  churches  which 
defiled  themselves  by  re-admitting  lapsi,  or  any  other  gross 
offenders.  They  went  much  farther  than  Cyprian,  even  as  far 
as  the  later  Donatists.  They  admitted  the  possibility  of  mercy 
for  a  mortal  sinner,  but  denied  the  power  and  the  right  of  the 
church  to  decide  upon  it  and  to  prevent  by  absolution  the  judg- 
ment of  God  upon  such  offenders.  They  also,  like  Cyprian, 
rejected  heretical  baptism,  and  baptized  all  who  came  over  to 
them  from  other  communions  not  just  so  rigid  as  themselves. 

At  the  head  of  this  party  stood  the  Roman  presbyter  Nova- 
tian,^  an  earnest,  learned,  but  gloomy  man,  who  had  come  to  faith 
through  severe  demoniacal  disease  and  inward  struggles.  He 
fell  out  with  Cornelius,  who,  after  the  Decian  persecution  in  251, 
was  nominated  bishop  of  Rome,  and  at  once,  to  the  grief  of 
many,  showed  great  indulgence  towards  the  lapsi.  Among  his 
adherents  the  above  named  Novatus  of  Carthage  was  particularly 
busy,  either  from  a  mere  spirit  of  opposition  to  existing  author- 
ity, or  from  having  changed  his  former  lax  principles  on  his 
removal  to  Rome.  Novatian,  against  his  will,  was  chosen  bishop 
by  the  opposition.  Cornelius  excommunicated  him.  Both  par- 
ties courted  the  recognition  of  the  churches  abroad.  Fabian, 
bishop  of  Antioch,  sympathized  with  the  rigorists.  Dionysius 
of  Alexandria,  on  the  contrary,  accused  them  of  blaspheming 

>  Comp.  §  111.  2  K..Sc.o..,-. 

3  Eusebius  and  the  Greeks  call  him  S jovaroc,  and  confound  him  with  Novatus 
of  Carthage. 


§   115.      CHURCH  SCHISMS.  451 

the  most  gracious  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  calling  liim  unmerciful. 
And  especially  Cyprian,  from  his  zeal  for  ecclesiastical  unity  and 
his  aversion  to  Novatus,  took  sides  with  Cornelius,  whom  he 
regarded  the  legitimate  bishop  of  Eome. 

In  spite  of  this  strong  opposition  the  Novatian  sect,  by  vir- 
tue of  its  moral  earnestness,  propagated  itself  in  various  pro- 
vinces of  the  West  and  the  East  down  to  the  fifth  century.  In 
Phrygia  it  combined  with  the  remnants  of  the  Montanists.  The 
council  of  Nice  recognised  its  ordination,  and  endeavored,  with- 
out success,  to  reconcile  it  with  the  Catholic  church.  Constan- 
tine,  too,  at  first  dealt  mildly  with  it,  but  afterwards  prohibited 
its  public  worship, 

3.  The  Meletian  schism  in  Egypt  arose  in  the  Diocletian  per- 
secution, about  805,  and  lasted  more  than  a  century,  but,  owing 
to  the  contradictory  character  of  our  accounts,  it  is  not  so  well 
understood.  It  was  occasioned  by  Meletius,  bishop  of  Lycopolis, 
in  Thebais,  who,  according  to  one  statement,  from  zeal  for  strict 
discipline,  according  to  another,  from  sheer  arrogance,  rebelled 
against  his  metropolitan,  Peter  of  Alexandria  (martyred  in  311), 
and  during  his  absence  encroached  upon  his  diocese  with  ordi- 
nations, excommunications,  and  the  like.  Peter  warned  his  peo- 
ple against  him,  and,  on  returning  fi-om  his  flight,  deposed  him 
as  a  disturber  of  the  peace  of  the  church.  But  the  controversy 
continued,  and  spread  over  all  Egypt.  The  council  of  Nice 
endeavored,  by  recognising  the  ordination  of  the  twenty -nine 
Meletian  bishops,  and  by  other  compromise  measures,  to  heal  the 
division ;  but  to  no  purpose.  The  Meletians  afterwards  made 
common  cause  with  the  Arians. 


CHAPTER  YIIL 


THE   CnUECH    FATHERS  AND  THEIR  WRITINGS. 

Jerome  (t419)  :  De  viris  illustribus  (comprising  in  135  numbers  the  biblical 
and  ecclesiastical  authors,  down  to  a.d.  393).  Tillemont  (R.C.)  :  Me- 
moires,  etc.,  Par.  1693  sqq.,  16  vols,  (the  first  six  centuries).  E.  Ddpin 
(R.  C.) :  Nouvelle  Bibliotheque  des  auteurs  ecclesiastiques,  contenant 
I'histoire  de  leur  vie,  etc.  Par.  1693-1715,  20  vols.  Remi  Cellier  (R. 
C.) :  Histoire  generale  des  auteurs  sacres  et  ecclesiastiques.  Par.  1729- 
63,  23  vols.  Gr.  Cave  :  Scriptorura  ecclesiasticorum  Historia  literaria  a 
Christo  nato  usque  ad  saecul.  XIV.  Lond.  1688.  2  vols.  (Ox.  1740  and 
often).  Fabricius  :  Bibliotheca  Graeca.  Hamb.  1708-28,  14  vols.  (ed. 
quarta  by  Harless,  Hamb.  1790-1812,  in  12  vols.,  embracing  all  the  Greek 
writers  down  to  the  dissolution  of  the  Eastern  empire).  Fabricius  :  BibUo- 
theca  ecclesiastica.  Hamb.  1718.  Gudin  :  Gommentarius  de  scriptoribus 
ecclesiae  antiquis  illorumque  scriptis.  Lips.  1822,  3  vols,  (reaching  to 
the  15th  century.)  Mohler  (R.  C.)  :  Patrologie  oder  christliche  Lite- 
rargeschichte.  Edited  by  Reithmayer.  Regensb.  1840,  Vol.  I.  (covering 
only  the  first  three  centuries.)  Fr.  Bohringer  :  Die  Kirche  Christi  u. 
ihre  Zeugen,  oder  die  K.  G.  in  Biographieen.  Ziir.  1842  sqq.  Vol.  I.  in 
4  parts  (to  Gregory  the  Great). — Comp.  also  Dallaeus  (DaiUe) :  De 
usu  Patrum  in  decidendis  controversiis.  Genev.  1656  (and  often),  and 
J.  J.  Blunt  (Anglican) :  The  Right  Use  of  the  Early  Fathers.  Lond.  1857 
(largely  polemical  against  the  depreciation  of  the  fathers,  by  Daill^,  Bar- 
beyrat,  and  Gibbon). 

§  116.     The  Patristic  Literature  in  General. 

As  Christianity  is  primarily  a  religion  of  divine  facts,  a  new 
moral  creation,  the  literary  and  scientific  element  in  its  history 
held,  at  first,  a  secondary  and  subordinate  place.  Of  the  apostles, 
Paul  alone  received  a  learned  education,  and  even  he  made  his 
rabbinical  culture  and  great  natural  talents  subservient  to  the 
higher  knowledge  imparted  to  him  by  revelation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  But  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is  a  new  life,  Christianity 
must  jiroduce  also  a  new  science  and  literature ;  partly  from  the 


§    116.      THE   PATRISTIC   LITERATURE   IN   GENERAL.        453 

inherent  impulse  of  faith  towards  deeper  and  clearer  knowledge 
of  its  object  for  its  own  satisfaction  ;  partly  from  the  demands  of 
self-preservation  against  assaults  from  without ;  partly  from  the 
practical  want  of  instruction  and  direction  for  the  people.  The 
church  also  gradually  appropriated  the  classical  culture,  and 
made  it  tributary  to  her  theology.  Throughout  the  middle  ages 
she  was  almost  the  sole  vehicle  and  guardian  of  science  and  art, 
and  she  is  the  mother  of  the  best  elements  of  the  modern  Euro- 
pean and  American  civilization.  We  have  already  treated  of  the 
mighty  intelldbtual  labor  of  our  period  on  the  field  of  apologetic, 
polemic,  and  dogmatic  theology.  In  this  section  we  have  to  do 
with  patrology,  or  the  biographical  and  bibliographical  matter  of 
the  ancient  theology  and  literature. 

The  ecclesiastical  literature  of  the  first  six  centuries  was  cast 
almost  entirely  in  the  mould  of  the  Graeco-Eoman  culture.  The 
earliest  church  fathers,  even  Clement  of  Rome,  Hermas,  and  Hip- 
polytus,  who  lived  and  labored  in  and  about  Rome,  used  the 
Grreek  language,  after  the  example  of  the  apostles,  with  such 
modifications  as  the  Christian  ideas  required.  Not  till  the  end 
of  the  second  century,  and  then  not  in  Italy,  but  in  North  Africa, 
did  the  Latin  language  also  become,  through  TertuUian,  a  medi- 
um of  Christian  science  and  literature.  The  Latin  church,  how- 
ever, continued  for  a  long  time  dependent  on  the  learning  of  the 
Greek.  The  Greek  church  was  more  excitable,  speculative,  and 
dialectic;  the  Latin  more  steady,  practical,  and  devoted  to 
outward  organization ;  though  we  have  on  both  sides  striking 
exceptions  to  iJiis  rule,  in  the  Greek  Chrysostom,  who  was  the 
greatest  practical  divine,  and  the  Latin  Augustine,  who  was  the 
profoundest  speculative  theologian  among  the  fathers. 

The  patristic  literature  in  general  falls  considerably  below 
the  classical  in  elegance  of  form,  but  far  surpasses  it  in  the 
sterling  quality  of  its  matter.  It  wears  the  servant  form  of  its 
master,  during  the  days  of  his  flesh,  not  the  splendid,  princely 
garb  of  this  world.  Confidence  in  the  power  of  the  Christian 
truth  made  men  less  careful  of  the  form  in  which  they  presented 
it.     Besides,  many  of  the  oldest  Christian  writers  lacked  early 


454  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

education,  and  bad  a  certain  aversion  to  art,  from  its  manifold 
perversion  in  those  days  to  the  service  of  idolatry  and  immo- 
rality. But  some  of  them,  even  in  the  second  and  third  centu- 
ries, particularly  Clement  and  Origen,  stood  at  the  head  of  their 
age  in  learning  and  philosophical  culture ;  and  in  the  fourth  and 
fifth  centuries,  the  literary  productions  of  an  Athanasius,  a 
Gregory,  a  Chrysostom,  an  Augustine,  and  a  Jerome,  excelled 
the  contemporaneous  heathen  literature  in  every  respect.  Many 
fathers,  like  the  two  Clements,  Justin  MartjT,  Athenagoras,  Theo- 
philus,  Tertullian,  Cyprian,  and  among  the  later  ones,  even 
Augustine,  embraced  Christianity  after  attaining  adult  years; 
and  it  is  interesting  to  notice  with  what  enthusiasm,  energy,  and 
thankfulness  they  lay  hold  upon  it. 

The  term  "  church-fether  "  originated  in  the  primitive  custom 
of  transferring  the  idea  of  father  to  spiritual  relationships,  espe- 
cially to  those  of  teacher,  priest,  and  bishop.  In  the  case  before 
us  the  idea  necessarily  includes  that  of  antiquity,  involving  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  general  authority  for  all  subsequent  periods  and 
single  branches  of  the  church.  Hence  this  title  of  honor  is  justly 
limited  to  the  more  distinguished  teachers  of  the  first  five  or  six 
centuries,  excepting,  of  course,  the  ajDOStles,  who  stand  far  above 
them  all  as  the  inspired  organs  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  applies, 
therefore,  to  the  period  of  the  ecumenical  formation  of  doctrines, 
before  the  separation  of  Eastern  and  Western  Christendom. 
When  the  Eoman  church  extends  the  line  of  the  Patrcs,  among 
whom  she  further  distinguishes  a  small  number  of  Doctores 
ecclesiae,  emphatically  so-called,  down  late  into  the  middle  ages, 
and  reckons  in  it  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  Thomas  Aquinas,  Bona- 
ventura,  and  even  the  divines  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  she  rests 
only  on  her  claim  to  exclusive  catholicity,  which  is  recognised 
neither  by  the  Greek  nor  the  Evangelical  church. 

Besides  antiquity,  or  direct  connexion  with  the  formative  age 
of  the  whole  church,  learning,  holiness,  orthodoxy,  and  the  ap- 
probation of  the  church,  or  general  recognition,  are  the  qualifi- 
cations for  a  church  father.  These  qualifications,  however, 
arc  onlv  relative.     At  least  we  cannot  apjily  the  scale  of  fully 


§    116.      THE   PATRISTIC   LITERATURE   EST   GENERAL.        455 

developed  ortliodoxy,  whether  Greek,  Roman,  or  Evangelical,  to 
the  ante-Nicene  fathers.  Their  dogmatic  conceptions  were  often 
very  indefinite  and  uncertain.  In  fact  the  Roman  church  excludes 
a  Tertullian  for  his  Montanism,  an  Origen  for  his  Platonic  and 
idealistic  views,  a  Eusebius  for  his  semi-Arianism,  from  the  list 
of  proper  Patres,  and  designates  them  merely  scriptores  ecclesi- 
astici.  In  strictness,  not  a  single  one  of  the  ante-Nicene  fathers 
fairly  agrees  with  the  Roman  standard  of  doctrine  in  all  pomts. 
Even  Irenaeus  and  Cyprian  differed  from  the  Roman  bishop ;  the 
former  in  reference  to  Chiliasm  and  Montanism,  the  latter  on  the 
validity  of  heretical  baptism.  We  must  resort  here  to  a  liberal 
conception  of  orthodoxy,  and  duly  consider  the  necessary  stages  of 
progress  in  the  development  of  Christian  doctrine  in  the  church. 

In  general  the  excellences  of  the  church  fathers  are  very  vari- 
ous. Polycarp  is  distinguished,  not  for  genius  or  learning,  but 
for  patriarchal  simplicity  and  dignity ;  Clement  of  Rome,  for  the 
gift  of  administration;  Ignatius,  for  impetuous  enthusiasm  for 
episcopacy,  unity,  and  Christian  martyrdom ;  Justin,  for  apolo- 
getic zeal  and  extensive  reading;  Irenaeus,  for  sound  doctrine 
and  moderation  ;  Clement  of  Alexandria,  for  stimulating  fertility 
of  thought ;  Origen,  for  brilliant  learning  and  bold  investigation ; 
Tertullian,  for  freshness  and  vigor  of  intellect,  and  sturdiness  of 
character;  Cyprian,  for  energetic  churchliness ;  Eusebius,  for 
industry  in  compilation ;  Lactantius,  for  elegance  of  style. 
Each  had  also  his  weakness.  Not  one  compares  in  depth  and 
spiritual  fulness  with  a  St.  Paul  or  St.  John ;  and  the  whole 
patristic  literature,  with  all  its  incalculable  value,  must  ever 
remain  very  far  below  the  New  Testament. 

The  church  fathers  before  the  council  of  Nice  may  be  divided 
into  five  or  six  classes : 

(1.)  The  apostolic  fathers,  or  personal  disciples  of  the  apostles. 
Of  these,  Polycarp,  Clement,  and  Ignatius  are  the  most  eminent. 

(2.)  The  apologists  for  Christianity  against  Judaism  and  hea- 
thenism ;  Justin  Martyr  and  his  successors  to  the  end  of  the 
second  century. 

(3.)  The  controversialists  against  heresies  within  the  church ; 


456  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

Irenaeus  and  Ilippolytus,  at  the  close  of  the  second  century  and 
beginning  of  the  third. 

(4.)  The  Alexandrian  school  of  philosophical  theology ; 
Clement  and  Origen,  in  the  first  half  of  the  third  century. 

(5.)  The  contemporary  but  more  practical  North  African  school 
of  Tertullian  and  Cyprian. 

Then  there  were  also  the  germs  of  the  Antiochan  school,  and 
some  less  prominent  writers,  who  can  be  assigned  to  no  particular 
class. 

Together  with  the  genuine  writings  of  the  church  fathers  there 
appeared  in  the  first  centuries,  in  behalf  both  of  heresy  and  of 
orthodoxy,  a  multitude  of  apocryphal  Gospels,  Acts,  and  Apo- 
calypses, under  the  names  of  apostles  and  of  later  celebrities; 
also  Jewish  and  heathen  prophecies  of  Christianity,  such  as  the 
Testament  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  the  Books  of  Hydaspes,  of 
Hermas  Trismegistos,  and  of  the  Sibylls.  The  frequent  use 
made  of  such  fabrications  of  an  idle  imagination  even  by  eminent 
church  teachers,  particularly  by  the  apologists,  evinces  not  only 
great  credulity  and  total  want  of  literary  criticism,  but  also  a  very 
imperfect  development  of  the  sense  of  truth^  which  had  not  yet 
learned  utterly  to  discard  the  jDia  fraus  as  falsehood. 


§  117.     The  Apostolic  Fathers. 

I.  Patrum  Apostolicorum  Opera;  editions  by  B.  CoTELERrus  (Cotelier, R. C), 

Par.  1G72.  2  vols.,  including  the  spurious  works ;  J.  Clericus  (Le 
Clerc),  Amst.  1G98  and  1724.  2  vols. ;  R.  Russel,  Lond.  1746.  2  vols, 
(the  genuine  works) ;  Guil.  Jacobson,  Oxon.  1838,  ed.  iii.  1847.  2  vols, 
(very  elegant  and  accurate,  but  containing  only  Clemens,  Ignatius,  Poly- 
carp,  and  the  niartyria  of  Ign.  and  Polyc.) ;  C.  J.  Hefele  (R.  C),  Tub.  1839 
ed.  iv.  1855.  1  vol. ;  A.  R.  M.  Dressel,  Lips.  1857.  1  vol.  (including  the 
Greek  Pastor  Hermae,  and  a  treatise  on  it  by  Tischendorf ).  E.  V.  Mu- 
RALT :  Codex  N.  T.  deuterocanonicus.     Turic.  1847. 

II.  The  Prolegomena  to  the  editions  just  named,  particularly  those  of  Cote- 

lier—  Clericus,  Hefele,  and  Dressel.  A.  Schwegler  :  Das  nachapostoiische 
Zeitalter.  Tub.  1846.  2  vols,  (liypercritical,  and  full  of  untenable  hy- 
potheses). A.  IIilgenfeld:  Die  apostolischen  Vater.  Halle,  1853.  J. 
H.  B.  LiJBKERx:  Die  Theologie  der  apostolischen  Yiiter,  in  the  "Zeit- 
schrift  fiir  hist.  Tbeol."  Lcipz.  1854.  Leculer  :  Das  apost.  u.  nacha- 
post.     Zeitalter.  Stuttgart,  1857.  p.  476-195. 


§   117.      THE  APOSTOLIC   FATHERS.  457 

The  apostolic  fathers  were  the  first  church  teachers  after  the 
apostles,  had  enjoyed  personal  intercourse  with  them,  and  thus 
form  the  connecting  link  between  them  and  the  apologists  of  the 
second  century.  This  class  consists  of  Barnabas,  Clement  of 
Rome,  Ignatius,  Polycarp,  Hermas,  and,  taken  in  a  broad  sense, 
Papias,  and  the  unknown  author  of  the  Epistle  to  Diognetus. 

Of  the  outward  life  of  these  men,  their  extraction,  education, 
and  occupation  before  conversion,  hardly  anything  is  known. 
The  distressed  condition  of  that  age  was  very  unfavorable  to 
authorship;  and  more  than  this,  the  spirit  of  the  primitive 
church  regarded  the  new  life  in  Christ  as  the  only  true  life,  the 
only  one  worthy  of  being  recorded.  But  the  pio-us  story  of  the 
martyrdom  of  several  of  these  fathers,  as  their  entrance  into  per- 
fect life,  has  been  copiously  written. 

The  extant  works  of  the  apostolic  fathers  are  of  small  com- 
pass, and  are  in  some  cases  of  doubtful  genuineness ;  but  they 
belong  at  all  events  to  that  obscure  and  mysterious  transition 
period  between  the  end  of  the  first  century  and  the  middle  of 
the  second.  They  all  originated,  not  in  scientific  study,  but  in 
practical  religious  feeling,  and  contain  not  analyses  of  doctrine 
so  much  as  simple  direct  assertions  of  faith  and  exhortations  to 
holy  life ;  all,  excepting  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas,  in  the  form 
,  of  epistles  after  the  model  of  Paul's.  Yet  they  show  the  germs 
of  the  apologetic,  polemic,  dogmatic,  and  ethic  theology,  as  well 
as  the  outlines  of  the  organization  and  the  cultus  of  the  old 
Catholic  church.  Critical  research  has  to  assign  to  them  their 
due  23lace  in  the  external  and  internal  development  of  the  church ; 
in  doing  this  it  needs  very  great  caution  to  avoid  arbitrary 
construction. 

If  we  compare  these  documents  with  the  canonical  Scriptures 
of  the  New  Testament,  it  is  evident  at  once  that  they  fall  far 
below  in  creative  force,  depth,  and  fulness  of  spirit,  and  afford 
in  this  a  strong  indirect  proof  of  the  inspiration  of  the  apostles. 
Yet  tliey  still  shine  with  the  evening  red  of  the  apostolic  day, 
and  breathe  an  enthusiasm  of  simple  faith  and  fervent  love  and 
fidelity  to  the  Lord,  which  proved  its  power  in  suffering  and 


458  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

martyrdom.  They  move  in  the  element  of  living  tradition,  and 
make  reference  oftener  to  the  oral  preaching  of  the  apostles  than 
to  their  writings ;  for  these  were  not  yet  so  generally  circulated ; 
but  they  bear  a  testimony  none  the  less  valuable  to  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  apostolic  writings,  by  numerous  citations  and  by  the 
coincidence  of  their  reminiscences  with  the  facts  of  the  gospel 
history  and  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  New  Testament. 
If  the  epistles  of  Barnabas,  Clement,  and  Polycarp,  and  the 
Shepherd  of  Hermas,  were  sometimes  read  in  public  worship,  or 
were  even  incorporated  in  some  manuscripts  of  the  Bible,  this  only 
shows  that  the  sense  of  the  church,  as  to  the  extent  of  the  canon, 
had  not  yet  become  everywhere  clear.  Their  authority  at  any 
rate  was  always  but  sectional  and  subordinate  to  that  of  the 
Gospels  and  the  apostolic  Epistles.  It  was  a  sound  instinct  of 
the  church,  that  the  writings  of  the  disciples  of  the  apostles, 
excepting  those  of  Mark  and  Luke,  who  were  peculiarly  associated 
with  Peter  and  Paul,  were  kept  out  of  the  codex  of  the  New 
Testament.  For  by  the  wise  ordering  of  the  Euler  of  history, 
there  is  an  impassable  gulf  between  the  inspiration  of  the  apostles 
and  the  illumination  of  the  succeeding  age,  between  the  standard 
authority  of  holy  Scripture  and  the  derived  validity  of  the 
teaching  of  the  church. 

§  118.    Clement  of  Rome. 

Lipsius :    De  Clementis  Rom.  Epist.  ad  Corinth,  priore.     Lips.  1855.     Comp, 
the  Hterature  at  §  69. 

Among  the  apostolic  fathers  Clement  of  Eome  and  Ignatius 
of  Antioch  clearly  take  the  front  rank,  from  their  position  as 
bishops  of  the  largest  apostolic  churches  in  capital  cities  of  the 
Koman  empire,  and  from  the  importance  of  their  writings. 

Clement,  a  name  of  great  celebrity  in  antiquity,  was  a  disciple 
of  Paul  and  Peter ;  perhaps  the  same  who  is  mentioned  in  Phil, 
iv.  3,  as  a  zealous  fellow-laborer  in  the  gospel.  At  the  close  of 
the  first  century,  from  the  twelfth  year  of  Domitian  to  the  tliird 
of  Trajan  (a.d.  92-101  or  102),  he  stood,  according  to  Euscbius, 


§   118.      CLEMENT   OF   ROilE.  459 

at  the  head  of  the  Roman  church.  Yet  tradition  is  divided  against 
itself  as  to  the  time  of  his  administration ;  now  making  him  the 
first  successor  of  Peter,  now,  with  more  probabihty,  the  third.^ 
Further  than  this  we  know  nothing  with  certainty  respecting  him, 
but  what  can  be  gathered  from  his  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 

Later  legends  have  decked  out  his  life  in  romance,  both  in 
the  interest  of  the  catholic  church  and  in  that  of  heresy.  They 
picture  him  as  a  noble  and  highly  educated  Roman,  who,  dissatis- 
fied with  the  wisdom  and  art  of  heathenism,  journeyed  to  Pales- 
tine, became  acquainted  there  with  the  apostle  Peter,  and  was 
converted  by  him ;  accompanied  him  on  his  missionary  tours ; 
composed  many  books  in  his  name ;  was  appointed  by  him  his 
successor  as  bishop  of  Rome,  with  a  sort  of  supervision  over  the 
whole  church ;  and  at  last,  being  banished  under  Trajan  to  the 
Taurian  Chersonesus,  died  the  glorious  death  of  a  martyr  in  the 
waves  of  the  sea.  But  the  oldest  witnesses,  down  to  Eusebius 
and  Jerome,  know  nothing  of  his  martyrdom.  The  Acta  Mar- 
tyrii  dementis  (by  Simon  Metaphrastes)  make  their  appearance 
first  in  the  ninth  century.  They  are  purely  fictitious,  and  ascribe 
incredible  miracles  to  their  hero. 

From  this  father  we  have  a  Greek  epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
in  fifty-nine  chapters,  which  is  often  cited  by  the  church  fathers, 
then  disappeared,  but  was  found  again  complete,  together  with 
the  fragments  of  the  second  epistle,  in  the  Alexandrian  codex  of 
the  Bible  (now  in  the  British  Museum),  and  was  first  published 
from  this  by  Patricius  Junius  at  Oxford  in  1633.^  It  enjoyed 
the  highest  esteem  in  ancient  times,  and  continued  in  public  use 
in  the  Corinthian  church  so  late  as  the  year  180.  And  it  is  in 
fact  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  valuable  remains  of  the  .post- 
apostolic  literature.  It  was  occasioned  by  party  differences  and 
quarrels  in  the  church  of  Corinth,  where  some  restless  spirits  had 
deposed  the  presbyter -bishops.  It  consists  of  earnest  fraternal 
exhortations  to  harmony  and  love,  humility  and  holiness,  after 

1  Comp.  §  110,  p.  431. 

2  The  best  edition  from  the  same  MS.  is  that  of  Prof.  Jacobson,  Oxf.  1838,  3rd  ed. 
1847. 


460  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

the  pattern  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  especially  of  Paul  and 
Peter.  It  evinces  the  calm  dignity  and  the  practical  executive 
wisdom  of  the  Eoman  church  in  her  original  apostolic  simpli- 
city, without  the  slightest  infusion  of  hierarchical  arrogance.  It 
is  altogether  worthy  of  a  disciple  of  the  apostles. 

In  regard  to  its  theology,  this  e23istle  belongs  plainly  to  the 
school  of  Paul,  and  strongly  resembles  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  betrays  the  influence  of  Peter  also ;  both 
these  apostles  having,  in  fact,  personally  labored  in  the  church  of 
Rome,  in  whose  name  the  letter  is  written,  and  having  left  the 
stamp  of  their  spirit  upon  it.  Clement  is  really  the  only  one  of 
the  apostolic  fathers,  except  perhaps  Polycarp,^  who  clearly 
asserts  the  Pauline  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith.  "  All  (the 
saints  of  the  Old  Testament),"  says  he,^  "became  great  and  glo- 
rious, not  through  themselves,  nor  by  their  works,  nor  by  their 
righteousness,  but  by  the  will  of  God.  Thus  we  also,  who  are 
called  by  the  will  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  are  righteous  not  of 
ourselves,  neither  through  our  wisdom,  nor  through  our  under- 
standing, nor  through  our  piety,  nor  through  our  works,  which 
we  have  wrought  in  purity  of  heart,  but  by  faith,  by  which  the 
almighty  God  justified  all  these  from  the  beginning ;  to  whom 
be  glory  to  all  eternity."  And  then  Clement,  precisely  like 
Paul  in  Rom.  vi.,  derives  sanctification  from  justification,  and 
continues:  "What,  then,  should  we  do,  beloved  brethren? 
Should  we  be  slothful  in  good  works  and  neglect  love  ?  By  no 
means!  But  with  zeal  and  courage  we  will  hasten  to  fulfil  every 
good  work.  For  the  Creator  and  Lord  of  all  things  himself 
rejoices  in  his  works."  Among  the  good  works  he  especially 
extols  love,  and  describes  it  in  a  strain  which  reminds  one  of 
Paul's  13th  chapter  of  1  Corinthians:  "He  who  has  love  in 
Christ,  obeys  the  commands  of  Christ.  Who  can  declare  the 
bond  of  the  love  of  God,  and  tell  the  greatness  of  its  beauty  ? 
The  height  to  which  it  leads  is  unspeakable.  Love  unites  us 
with  God ;  covers  a  multitude  of  sins ;  beareth  all  things, 
endureth  all  things.     There  is  nothing  mean  in  love,  nothing 

'  Ad  Philipp.  c.  1.  2  Ch.  32. 


§   118.      CLEMENT   OF   ROME.  461 

hauglity.  It  knows  no  division ;  it  is  not  refractory ;  it  does 
everj^thing  in  harmony.  In  love  have  all  the  elect  of  God 
become  perfect.  Without  love  nothing  is  pleasing  to  God.  In 
love  has  the  Lord  received  ns ;  for  the  love  which  he  cherished 
towards  us,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  gave  his  blood  for  us  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  God,  and  his  flesh  for  our  flesh,  and  his  soul 
for  our  soul."^  Hence  all  his  zeal  for  the  unity  of  the  church. 
"  Wherefore  are  dispute,  anger,  discord,  division,  and  war  among 
you  ?  Or  have  we  not  one  God,  and  one  Christ  and  one  Spirit, 
■who  is  poured  out  upon  us,  and  one  calling  in  Christ?  Where- 
fore do  we  tear  and  sunder  the  members  of  Christ,  and  bring 
the  body  into  tumult  against  itself,  and  go  so  far  in  delusion, 
that  we  forget  that  we  are  members  one  of  another?"^  Yery 
beautifully  also  he  draws  from  the  harmony  of  the  universe  an 
incitement  to  concord,  and  incidentally  expresses  here  the  remark- 
able sentiment,  perhaps  suggested  by  the  old  legends  of  the  Atlan- 
tis, the  orbis  alter,  the  ultima  Thule,  &c.,  that  there  are  other 
worlds  beyond  the  impenetrable  ocean,  which  are  ruled  by  the 
same  laws  of  the  Lord.^ 

But  notwithstanding  its  prevailing  Pauline  character,  this 
epistle  lowers  somewhat  the  free  evangelical  tone  of  the  Gentile 
apostle's  theology,  softens  its  anti-Judaistic  sternness,  and  blends 
it  with  the  Jewish-Christian  counterpart ;  showing  that  the  con- 
flict between  the  Pauline  and  Petrine  views  was  substantially  set- 
tled at  the  end  of  the  first  century  in  the  Eoman  church,  and 
also  in  that  of  Corinth. 

Clement  knows  nothing  of  an  episcopate  above  the  presby- 
terate ;  and  his  epistle  itself  is  written,  not  in  his  own  name,  but 
in  that  of  the  church  at  Home.  But  on  the  other  hand,  he  pre- 
sents the  Levitical  priesthood  as  a  type  of  the  Christian  teaching 
office,  and  insists  with  the  greatest  decision  on  outward  unity, 
fixed  order,  and  obedience  to  church  rulers ;  thus  revealing  the 
easy  and  as  yet  innocent  beginnings  of  the  Eoman  system.     The 

'  Ch.  49.  "  Ch.  46.     Comp.  Eph.  iv.  3  sqq. 

*=  Ch.  20 :  '^Kcavof  di/^pajnoii  dnipavTOS  Kal  ol  ust  avTov  Koofioi  raii  ovraTj  r.i- 
y.iTs  roi  cicttOtov  Stev^vovrai, 


4(32  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

interval  between  Clement  and  Paul,  and  the  transition  from  the 
apostolic  to  the  apocryphal,  from  faith  to  superstition,  appears  in 
the  difference  between  Paul's  treatment  of  scepticism  in  regard 
to  the  resurrection,^  and  liis  disciple's  treatment  of  the  same 
subject.^  Clement  points  not  only  to  the  types  in  nature,  the 
changes  of  the  seasons  and  of  day  and  night,  but  also  in  full 
earnest  to  the  heathen  myth  of  the  miraculous  bird,  the  phenix 
in  Arabia,  which  regenerates  itself  every  five  hundred  years. 
When  the  phenix — so  runs  the  fable — approaches  death,  it  makes 
itself  a  nest  of  frankincense  and  other  spices ;  from  its  decaying 
flesh  a  winged  worm  arises,  which,  when  it  becomes  strong,  car- 
ries the  reproductive  nest  from  Arabia  to  Heliopolis  in  Egypt, 
and  there  lays  it,  with  the  bones  of  its  predecessors,  upon  the 
altar  of  the  sun.  And  this  takes  place,  according  to  the  reckon- 
ing of  the  priests,  every  five  hundred  years.  After  Clement 
other  fathers  also  used  the  phenix  as  a  symbol  of  the  resurrec- 
tion. 

As  to  the  time  of  its  composition,  this  epistle  falls  certainly 
after  the  death  of  Peter  and  Paul,  for  it  celebrates  their  martyr- 
dom ;  and  most  probably  after  the  death  of  John,  possibly  during 
his  exile ;  for  one  would  suppose,  that  if  this  apostle  had  been 
living,  the  Corinthian  Christians  would  have  applied  to  him  for 
counsel,  rather  than  to  a  disciple  of  the  apostles  in  distant  Rome. 
The  persecution  alluded  to  in  the  beginning  of  the  epistle  would 
then  be  the  Domitian,  and  not  the  Neronian.  Clement's  calling  the 
church  at  Corinth  at  that  time  firmly  established  and  ancient,^ 
agrees  well  with  this  date;  as  also  the  fact,  that,  according  to 
Eusebius,  he  did  not  take  the  bishop's  chair  in  Rome  till  92  or  93. 

The  name  of  Clement  has  been  forged  upon  several  later  writ- 
ings, both  orthodox  and  heretical,  to  give  them  the  more  currency 
by  the  weight  of  his  name  and  position.  These  pseudo-Clemen 
tine  works  are : — 

1.  A  second  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  likewise  in  the  Codex 
Alexandrinus,  but  now  extant  only  in  fragments.     Its  great 

•  1  Cor.  XV.  2  Ad  Corinth,  c.  24  sqq. 

'  ijt3ainTaTr]v  KoX  dp^aiav,  C.  47. 


§   119.      IGNATIUS   OF  AXTIOCH.  4G3 

inferiority  to  the  first,  botli  in  matter  and  in  style,  stamps  it  at 
once  as  the  work  of  another  and  later  author ;  and  it  is,  in  fact, 
mentioned  first  by  Eusebius,  and  then  with  the  remark,  that  the 
ancients  made  no  use  of  it,^  It  is  probably  a  fragment  of  a 
homily  falsely  ascribed  to  Clement,  and  is  occupied  with  general 
exhortations  to  active  Christianity  and  to  fidelity  in  persecution, 
meantime  contending  with  the  Gnostic  denial  of  the  resurrection. 

2.  Two  encyclical  letters  to  Virgins,  first  discovered  by  Wetstein 
in  1752,  in  a  Syriac  version.  They  commend  the  unmarried 
life,  and  contain  exhortations  and  rules  of  discipline  for  ascetics 
of  both  sexes. 

3.  The  Apostolical  Constitutions  and  Canons.^  The  so-called 
Liturgia  S.  Clementis  is  a  part  of  the  eighth  book  of  the  Consti- 
tutions. 

4.  The  Pseudo-Clementina,  or  twenty  Ebionistic  homilies  and 
their  catholic  reproduction,  the  Eecognitions.^ 

5.  Five  decretal  letters,  which  pseudo-Isidore  has  placed  at  the 
head  of  his  collection.  Two  of  them  are  addressed  to  James, 
and  are  older  than,  the  pseudo-Isidore ;  the  three  others  were 
fabricated  by  him. 


§  119.   Ignatius  of  Antioch. 

I.  Besides  the  works  cited  at  §  117,  see  W.  Cureton:  The  Ancient  Syriac 
Version  of  the  Epistles  of  S.  Ignatius  to  S.  Polycarp,  the  Ephesians,  and 
the  Komans.  With  Engl,  transl.  and  notes.  Lond.  and  Berl.  1845. 
C.  C.  J.  BuNSEN :  Die  3  achten  u.  die  4  unachten  Briefe  des  Ignatius 
von  Ant.  Hergestellter  u.  vergleichender  Text  mit  Anmerkk.  Hamb. 
1847.  W.  Cureton  :  Corpus  Ignatianum :  a  complete  collection  of  the 
Ignatian  Epistles,  genuine,  interpolated,  and  spurious;  together  with 
numerous  extracts  from  them  as  quoted  by  eccles.  writers  down  to  the 
tenth  century ;  in  Syriac,  Greek,  and  Latin,  an  Engl,  transl.  of  the  Syriac 
text,  copious  notes,  and  introd.  Lond.  and  Berl.  1849.  J.  H.  Peter- 
mann:    S.  Ignatii  quae  feruntur  Epistolae,  una  cum  ejusdem  martyrio, 

1  H,  E.  III.  38.  Irenaeus,  Dionysius  of  Corinth,  Clement  of  Alex.,  and  Origen, 
know  only  of  one  epistle  of  Clement,  the  first.  Dionysius  of  Corinth  (ap.  Euseb. 
H.  E.  IV.  23)  calls,  indeed,  the  epistle  of  Clement  voiripa,  but  with  reference,  not  to 
a  second  epistle  of  Clement,  but  to  a  later  epistle  of  Bishop  Soter  of  Rome  to  the 
Corinthians. 

*  Comp.  §  113.  3  Comp.  §  69. 


464  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

collatis  edd.  Graecis,  versionibusque  Syriaca,  Armeniaca,  Latinis.     Lips. 
1849. 

11.  J.  Pearson:  Vindiciae  Ignatianae.  Cambr.  1672.  (Also  in  Cleric,  ed.  of 
the  Patres  Apost.  II.  250-440).  Republished  with  annotations  by  E.  Ch  tir- 
ton,  Oxon.  1852,  2  vols.  Rothe  :  Anfiinge  der  christl.  Kirche.  Wittenb. 
1837.  I.  p.  715  sqq.  Bunsen:  Ignatius  von  Ant.  u.  seine  Zeit.  7  Send- 
schreiben  an  Dr.  Neander.  Hamb.  1847.  Baur:  Die  Ignatianischen 
Briefe  u.  ihr  neuster  Kritiker.  Tiib.  1848  (against  Bunsen).  Denzinger 
(R.  C.) :  Ueber  die  Aechtheit  des  bisherigen  Textes  der  Ignatian.  Briefe. 
Wiirzb.  1849.  G.  Uhlhorn  :  Das  Verhaltniss  der  syrischen  Recension 
der  Ignatian.  Br.  zu  der  kiirzeren  griechischen.  Leipz.  1851  (in  the 
"Zeitschr.  fiir  hist.  Theol.");  and  his  article  "Ignatius"  in  Herzog's 
Theol.  Encykl.,  vol.  vi.  (1856)  p.  623  sqq.  Thiersch  :  Kirche  im  apost 
Zeitalter.  Franlcf.  u.  Erl.  1852.  p.  320  sqq.  Lipsius :  Ueber  die  Aech- 
theit der  syr.  Recens.  der  Ignat.  Br.  Leipz.  1856  (in  Niedner's  "  Zeitschr. 
fiir  hist.  Theol."). — The  statements  of  the  fathers  respecting  Ignatius 
are  collected  by  Petermann,  1.  c.  p.  554  sqq. ;  also  by  Cureton  and 
Bunsen,  1.  c. 

Ignatius,  siirnamed  Theophorus/  stood  at  tlie  liead  of  the 
church  of  Antioch  at  the  close  of  the  first  century  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  second ;  and  was  thus  contemporaneous  with  Clement 
of  Rome  and  Simeon  of  Jerusalem.  The  church  of  Antioch  was 
the  mother  church  of  Gentile  Christianity ;  and  the  city  was  the 
second  city  of  the  Roman  empire.  Great  numbers  of  Christians 
and  a  host  of  heretical  tendencies  were  collected  there,  and  pushed 
the  development  of  doctrine  and  organization  with  great  rapidity. 
As  in  the  case  of  Rome,  tradition  differs  concerning  the  first 
episcopal  succession  of  Antioch,  making  Ignatius  either  the 
second  or  the  first  bishop  of  this  church  after  Peter,  and  calling 
him  now  a  disciple  of  Peter,  now  of  Paul,  now  of  John.  The 
Apostolic  Constitutions  intimate  that  Evodius  and  Ignatius  pre- 
sided contemporaneously  over  that  church,  the  first  being  ordained 
by  Peter,  the  second  by  Paul.^  Baronius  and  others  suppose 
the  one  to  have  been  the  bishop  of  the  Jewish,  the  other  of  the 
Gentile  converts.  Thiersch  endeavors  to  reconcile  the  conflict- 
ing statements  by  the  hypothesis,  that  Peter  appointed  Evodius 

'  Qco<p6po!,  "  bearer  of  God,"  as  he  styles  himself  iu  his  epistles. 

2  Ap.  Const.  VII.  46:    'Ajtio-^si.is  Ev')6ios  ^tv  W  ifiov  IltT-pou,  'lyvanoj  61  vnd  TiaiXov 


§    119.      IGi^TATIUS   OF   ANTIOCH.  465 

presbyter,  Paul  Ignatius,  and  John  subsequently  ordained  Igna- 
tius bishop.  According  to  later  story,  Ignatius  was  the  first 
patron  of  sacred  music,  and  introduced  the  antiphony  in  Antioch. 
But  his  peculiar  glory,  in  the  eyes  of  the  ancient  church,  was  his 
martyrdom,  the  fact  of  which  is  unquestionable,  though  the 
minute  account  of  it,  the  Martyrium  S.  Ignatii,  which  is  said  to 
be  the  work  of  two  of  his  deacons  and  travelling  companions, 
but  has  come  down  to  us  in  several  discordant  versions,  and 
which  was  unknown  to  Eusebius,  contains  manj^  embellishments 
of  a  pious  fancy.  Ignatius  himself  says,  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Eomans,  according  to  the  Syriac  version :  "  From  Sj^ria  to  Eome 
I  fight  with  wild  beasts,  on  water  and  on  land,  by  day  and  by 
night,  chained  to  ten  leopards,^  which  are  only  made  worse  by 
signs  of  kindness.  Yet  their  wickednesses  do  me  good  as  a  dis- 
ciple; but  not  on  this  account  am  I  justified.  Would  that  I 
might  be  glad  of  the  beasts  made  ready  for  me.  And  I  pray 
that  they  may  be  found  ready  for  me.  Nay,  I  will  fawn  upon 
them,  that  they  may  devour  me  quickly,  and  not,  as  they  have 
done  with  some,  refuse  to  touch  me  from  fear.  Yea,  and  if  they 
will  not  voluntarily  do  it,  I  will  bring  them  to  it  by  force."  The 
Acts  of  his  martyrdom  relate  more  minutely,  that  Ignatius  was 
brought  before  the  emperor  Trajan  at  Antioch  in  the  ninth  year 
of  his  reign  (106-107),  was  condemned  to  death  as  a  Christian, 
was  transported  in  chains  to  Eome,  and  was  there  thrown  to 
lions  in  the  Coliseum  for  the  amusement  of  the  people.  The 
transportation  may  be  accounted  for  as  designed  to  cool  the  zeal 
of  the  bishop,  to  terrify  other  Christians  on  the  way,  and  to  pre- 
vent an  outbreak  of  fanaticism  in  the  church  of  Antioch.  But 
the  chronological  part  of  the  statement  makes  difficulty.  So  far 
as  we  know,  from  coins  and  other  ancient  documents,  Trajan  did 
not  come  to  Antioch  on  his  Parthian  expedition  till  the  year  11-4 
or  115.     We  must  therefore  either  place  the  martyrdom  later,?  or 


i  "O  itjTi  (TrpuTtojTMv  ray/ia,  is  added  here  for  explanation  by  the  two  Greek  versions, 
but  by  Eusebius  also,  H.  E.  III.  36. 

2  Grabe  proposes  to  read,  in  the  Martyr,  c.  2,  SexaTM  Ii'vutm  it^i,  for  iwdro^^.  which 
would  give  the  year  116.     Tillemont  and  others  escape  the  difficulty  by  supposing, 

30 


466  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

suppose  that  Ignatius  did  not  appear  before  tlie  emperor  Hmself 
at  all,  but  before  his  governor.  His  remains  were  taken  to 
Antioch,  and  preserved  there  as  an  "  invaluable  treasure."^ 

On  this  journey  to  Eome,  bishop  Ignatius,  as  a  prisoner  of 
Jesus  Christ,  wrote  seven  epistles  to  various  churches,  mostly  in 
Asia  Minor.  Eusebius  and  Jerome  put  thera  in  the  following 
order :  (1)  To  the  Ephesians ;  (2)  to  the  Magnesians ;  (3)  to  the 
Trallians ;  (4)  to  the  Eomans ;  (5)  to  the  Philadelphians ;  (6)  to 
the  Smyrneans ;  (7)  to  Polycarp,  bishop  of  Smyrna.  The  first 
four  were  composed  in  Smyrna ;  the  other  three  later  in  Troas. 
These  seven  epistles,  in  connexion  with  a  number  of  other  decid- 
edly spurious  epistles  of  Ignatius,  have  come  down  to  us  in  two 
Greek  versions,  a  longer  and  a  shorter.  The  shorter  is  unques- 
tionably to  be  preferred  to  the  longer,  which  abounds  with 
later  interpolations.  Besides  these,  to  increase  the  confusion  of 
controversy,  a  Syriac  translation  has  been  recently  discovered, 
which  contains  only  three  of  the  former  epistles — those  to  Poly- 
carp, to  the  Ephesians,  and  to  the  Eomans — and  these  in  a  much 
shorter  form.  This  version  is  regarded  by  some  as  an  exact 
transfer  of  the  original,  by  others,  with  greater  probability,  as  a 
mere  extract  from  it  for  practical  and  ascetic  purposes.  The 
question  therefore  lies  between  the  shorter  Greek  copy  and  the 
Syriac  version.  The  preponderance  of  testimony  is  for  the  for- 
mer, in  which  the  letters  are  no  loose  patch-work,  but  were  pro- 
duced each  under  its  one  impulse,  were  known  to  Eusebius 
(probably  even  to  Polycarp),  and  agree  also  with  the  Armenian 
version  of  the  fifth  century,  as  compared  by  Petermann.  The 
three  Syriac  epistles,  however,  though  they  lack  some  of  the 
strongest  passages  on  episcopacy  and  on  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
contain  the  outlines  of  the  same  life-picture,  and  especially  the 
same  fervid  enthusiasm  for  martyrdom,  as  the  seven  Greek 
epistles. 

Ignatius  stands  out  in  history  as  the  ideal  of  a  catholic  martyr, 

without  good  reason,  a  double  Parthian  expedition  of  Trajan,  one  in  107  and  anothei 
in  115  or  IIG.     Comp.  Francke:  Zur  Geschichte  Trajan's,  1837,  p.  253  sqq. 
'  OncavpJi  HTi.iof,  Martyr,  c  6. 


§   119.      IGNATIUS   OF   ANTIOCH.  467 

and  as  tlie  earliest  advocate  of  tlie  liierarcMcal  principle  in  both 
its  good  and  its  evil  points. 

As  he  appears  personally  in  his  epistles,  his  most  beautiful  and 
venerable  trait  is  his  glowing  love  for  Christ  as  God  incarnate, 
and  his  enthusiasm  for  martyrdom.  "I  would  rather  die  for 
Christ,"  says  he,  "  than  rule  the  whole  earth."  "  It  is  glorious 
to  go  down  in  the  world,  in  order  to  go  up  into  God."  He 
beseeches  the  Eomans :  "  Leave  me  to  the  beasts,  that  I  may  by 
them  be  made  partaker  of  God.  I  am  a  grain  of  the  wheat  of 
God,  and  I  would  be  ground  by  the  teeth  of  wild  beasts,  that  I 
may  be  found  pure  bread  of  God.  Bather  fawn  upon  the  beasts, 
that  they  may  be  to  me  a  grave,  and  leave  nothing  of  my  body, 
that,  when  I  sleep,  I  may  not  be  burdensome  to  any  one.  Then 
will  I  truly  be  a  disciple  of  Christ,  when  the  world  can  no  longer 
even  see  my  body.  Pray  the  Lord  for  me,  that  through  these 
instruments  I  may  be  found  a  sacrifice  to  God."^  And  further 
on :  "  Fire,  and  cross,  and  exposure  to  beasts,  scattering  of  the 
bones,  hewing  of  the  limbs,  crushing  of  the  whole  body,  wicked 
,  torments  of  the  devil,  may  come  upon  me,  if  they  only  make  me 

partaker  of  Jesus  Christ My  love  is  crucified,  and  there 

is  no  fire  in  me,  which  loves  earthly  stuff.  ....  I  rejoice  not  in 
the  food  of  perishableness,  nor  in  the  pleasures  of  this  life.  The 
bread  of  God  would  I  have,  which  is  the  flesh  of  Christ ;  and  for 
drink  I  wish  his  blood,  which  is  imperishable  love."^ 

From  these  and  similar  passages,  however,  we  perceive  also 
that  his  martyr  spirit  exceeds  the  limits  of  the  genuine  apostolic 
soberness  and  resignation,^  and  degenerates  almost  into  boisterous 
impatience  and  morbid  fanaticism.  There  mingles  also  in  all  his 
extravagant  professions  of  humility  and  entire  unworthiness  a 
refined  spiritual  pride  and  self-commendation.  And,  finally, 
there  is  something  offensive  in  the  tone  of  his  epistle  to  Poly- 
carp,  in  which  he  addresses  that  venerable  bishop  and  apostolic 
disciple,  who  must  have  been  at  that  time  already  entered  upon 
the  years  of  manhood,  not  as  a  colleague  and  brother,  but  rather 

'  Ad  Rom.  c.  2,  according  to  the  Syriac  text ;  c.  4,  in  tlie  Greek. 

'  Cli.  4  (Svr.),  or  5-7  (Gr.).  =  Comp.  Phil.  i.  23,  24,  and  Matt.  xxvi.  39. 


468  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

as  a  pupil,  with  exhortations  and  warnings,  such  as :  "  Strive 
after  more  knowledge  than  thou  hast."  "  Be  wise  as  the  ser- 
pents." "  Be  more  zealous  than  thou  art."  "  Flee  the  arts  of 
the  devil."^  This  last  injunction  goes  even  beyond  that  of  Paul 
to  Tmiothy :  "  Flee  youthful  lusts, "^  and  can  hardly  be  justified 
by  it.  Thus,  not  only  in  force  and  depth  of  teaching,  but  also 
in  life  and  suffering,  there  is  a  significant  difference  between  an 
apostolic  and  a  post-apostolic  martyr. 

The  doctrinal  and  churchly  views  of  the  Ignatian  epistles  are 
framed  on  a  peculiar  combination  and  somewhat  materialistic 
apprehension  of  John's  doctrine  of  the  incarnation,  and  Paul's 
idea  of  the  church  as  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  "  catholic 
church  " — an  expression  introduced  by  him — that  is,  the  episco- 
pal orthodox  organization  of  his  day,  the  author  sees,  as  it  were, 
the  continuation  of  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation,  on  the  reality 
of  which  he  laid  great  emphasis  against  the  Docetists ;  and  in 
ever}'-  bishop,  a  visible  representative  of  Christ,  and  a  personal 
centre  of  ecclesiastical  unity,  which  he  presses  home  upon  his 
readers  with  the  greatest  solicitude  and  almost  passionate  zeal. 
He  thus  applies  those  ideas  of  the  apostles  directly  to  the  out- 
ward constitution,  and  makes  them  subservient  to  the  principle 
and  institution  of  the  growing  hierarchy.  Here  lies  the  chief 
importance  of  these  epistles ;  and  in  this  respect  we  have  found 
it  necessary  to  distinguish  them  already  in  the  section  on  the 
organization  of  the  church.^ 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  idea  of  the  episcopal  hierarchy  should 
be  first  clearly  and  boldly  brought  out,  not  by  the  contemporary 
Roman  bishop  Clement,  but  by  a  bishop  of  the  Eastern  church ; 
though  it  wiis  transplanted  by  him  to  the  soil  of  Rome,  and  there 
sealed  with  his  martyr  blood.  Equally  noticeable  is  the  circum- 
stance, that  these  oldest  documents  of  the  hierarchy  soon  became 


'  Taj  KitKOTcxvici  iprvyt,  according  to  all  the  MSS.,  even  the  Syriac.  Bunsen 
proposes  to  read  KaKOTix^ovi,  in  tlie  sense  of  seductive  women,  coquettes,  instead 
of  vaAortyinf.  But  tliis,  bcsidcs  being  a  mere  conjecture,  would  not  materially  soften 
the  warning. 

"  2  Tim.  iL  23.  ^  Comp.  §  108. 


§   119.      IGNATIUS  OF  ANTIOCH.  469 

SO  interpolated,  curtailed,  and  mutilated  by  pious  fraud,  that  it  is 
to-day  almost  impossible  to  discover  with  certainty  the  genuine 
Ignatius  of  history  under  the  hyper-  and  pseudo-Ignatius  of  tra- 
dition. 

CRITICAL   REMARKS  ON  THE   IGNATIAN    CONTROVERSY. 

Of  all  the  writings  of  the  apostoHc  fathers  none  have  been  so  much  dis- 
cussed, especially  in  modern  times,  as  the  Ignatian  Epistles.  This  arises 
partly  from  the  importance  of  their  contents  to  the  episcopal  question,  partly 
from  the  fact  of  so  many  different  versions.  The  latter  fact  seems  to  argue  as 
strongly  for  the  hypothesis  of  a  genuine  hasis  for  all,  as  against  the  supposition 
of  the  full  integrity  of  any  one  of  the  extant  texts.  The  Ignatian  controver- 
sies have  not  yet  reached  a  satisfactory  result,  though  they  have  made  con- 
siderable progress  towards  one.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  now  on  all  hands 
agreed,  that  of  the  fifteen  epistles  which  bear  the  name  of  Ignatius,  at  least 
eight  are  wholly  spurious  and  of  later  origin ;  namely,  three  Latin  (two  ad 
S.  Joannem  Apost.,  and  one  ad  S.  Mariam  Virginem,  to  which  is  added  a 
Responsio  of  Mary),  and  five  Greek  (ad  Mariam  Cassobolitam,  with  an  answer ; 
ad  Tarsenses ;  ad  Antiochenos ;  ad  Heronem  Diaconum  Antiochenum ;  and 
ad  Philippenses).  Their  many  oifences  against  history  and  chronology  are 
alone  decisive  against  them.  There  remain  therefore,  at  most,  the  seven 
epistles,  which  have  been  named  in  the  text  above  and  are  cited  by  Eusebius. 
But  here  the  views  of  critics  diverge. 

1.  The  longer  Oreek  recension,  first  published  by  Pacaeus  in  1557,  and  by 
Gessner  in  1559  (in  connexion  with  five  spurious  epistles),  has  found  de- 
fenders in  Whiston  (1710),  and  even  more  recently  in  C.  Meier  (1836) ;  but 
since  Rothe  (1837)  and  Arndt  (1839)  refuted  their  arguments,  it  has  been 
universally  given  up,  as  a  later  expansion. 

2.  The  shorter  Greek  recension  was  first  published  by  archbishop  Usher  in 
164i,  and  then  by  Isaac  Vossius,  from  a  Medicean  codex,  in  1646.  We  have 
from  it  also  fragments  of  a  Syriac  version  (in  Cureton),  and  an  Armenian 
version  apparently  from  the  Syriac  (printed  in  1783  in  Constantinople,  and 
compared  by  Petermann).  In  regard  to  this  Greek  Text  there  are  three 
views,  among  which  scholars  are  divided :  (a)  Its  genuineness  and  integrity 
are  advocated  by  Pearson  (Vindiciae  Ignatianae,  1672,  against  the  doubts  of 
the  acute  Calvinistic  divine,  Dallaeus,  who,  together  with  Salmasius,  Blon- 
del,  and  Sam.  Basnage,  suspected  the  whole  Ignatian  epistles  on  account 
especially  of  their  strong  episcopal  tendency),  latterly  by  Gieseler,  Mohler 
(R.  C),  Rothe  (1837),  Huther  (1841),  Dusterdieck  (1843),  Dorner  (1845),  and 
(since  the  publication  of  the  shorter  Syriac  version)  by  Jacobson.  Hefele  (R. 
C,  1847  and  1855j,  Denzinger  (R.  C,  1849),  Petermann  (1849),  Wordsworth, 
Churton  (1852),  and  most  thoroughly  by  Uhlhorn  (1851  and  '56).  (b)  The 
friends  of  the  three  Syriac  epistles  (see  below  under  No.  3)  let  only  so  many 
of  the  seven  epistles  stand  as  agree  with  those.  Also  Mosheim,  Neander, 
Thiersch  (1852),  and  Lechler  (1857)  are  inchned  to  suppose  at  least  interpola- 


470  SECOND  PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

tion.  (c)  Baur  (first  against  Rothe,  1838,  then  against  Bunsen,  1848  and  '53), 
Schwegler  (1846),  and  more  thorouglily  Hilgenfeld  (1853),  allow  it,  indeed, 
the  advantage  of  greater  age  over  the  Syriac  text,  but  deny  it,  with  all  other 
recensions,  to  Ignatius,  and  declare  it  a  fiction  of  the  later  half  of  the  second 
century ;  partly  because  the  entire  historical  situation  implied  in  it  is  in  itself 
improbable,  partly  because  it  advocates  a  form  of  church  government  and 
combats  Gnostic  heresies,  which  could  not  have  existed  in  the  age  of  Ignatius. 
This  extreme  scepticism  is  closely  connected  with  the  whole  view  of  the 
Tubingen  school  in  regard  to  the  history  of  primitive  Christianity. 

We  certainly  grant  that  the  integrity  of  these  epistles,  even  in  the  shorter 
copy,  is  not  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt.  As  the  manuscripts  of  them  con- 
tain, at  the  same  time,  decidedly  spurious  epistles  (even  the  Armenian  trans- 
lation has  thirteen  epistles),  the  suspicion  arises,  that  the  seven  genuine  also 
have  not  wholly  escaped  the  hand  of  the  forger.  Yet  there  are,  in  any  case, 
very  strong  arguments  for  their  genuineness  and  substantial  integrity ;  viz. 
(a)  The  testimony  of  the  fathers,  especially  of  Eusebius.  (b)  The  raciness  and 
freshness  of  their  contents,  which  a  forger  could  not  well  imitate,  (c)  The 
small  number  of  citations  from  the  New  Testament,  indicating  the  period  of  the 
immediate  disciples  of  the  apostles,  (d)  Their  way  of  combating  the  Judaists 
and  Docetists  (probably  Judaizing  Gnostics  of  the  school  of  Cerinthus),  show- 
ing us  Gnosticism  as  yet  in  the  first  stage  of  its  development,  (e)  Their  dog- 
matical indefiniteness,  particularly  in  regard  to  the  Trinity  and  Christology, 
notwithstanding  very  strong  expressions  in  regard  to  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
(f)  Their  urgent  recommendation  of  episcopacy  as  an  institution  still  new  and 
fresh,  (g)  Their  entire  silence  respecting  a  Roman  primacy,  even  in  the 
epistle  to  the  Romans. 

3.  The  Syriac  version  contains  three  epistles  (to  Polycarp,  to  the  Ephesians, 
and  to  the  Romans),  and  even  these  in  a  much  reduced  form,  less  than  half 
of  the  corresponding  Greek  epistles.  It  has  the  subscription :  '•  Here  end 
the  three  epistles  of  the  bishop  and  martyr  Ignatius,"  on  which,  however,  Bun- 
sen  lays  too  great  stress ;  for,  even  if  it  comes  from  the  translator  himself,  and 
not  from  a  mere  transcriber,  it  does  not  necessarily  exclude  the  existence  of 
other  epistles  (comp.  Petermann,  1.  c.  p.  xxi.).  It  was  discovered  in  1839 
and  '43  by  the  Rev.  Henry  Tattam  in  a  monastery  of  the  Libyan  desert, 
together  with  365  other  Syriac  manuscripts,  now  in  the  British  Museum ; 
published  first  by  Cureton  in  1845,  and  again  in  1849,  with  the  help  of  a 
third  MS.  discovered  in  1847 ;  and  advocated  as  genuine  by  him,  as  also  by 
Lee  (1846),  Bunsen  (1847),  Ritschl  (1851  and  1857),  Weiss  (1852),  and  most 
fully  by  Lipsius  (1856).  In  this  view  concurs  also  the  latest  editor  of  the 
works  of  the  apostolic  fathers,  Dressel,  though  with  the  qualification :  "  Ver- 
sio  Syriaca  exhibere  videtur  genuina  spuriis  permixta  aequo  ac  archetypon 
Graecum.  Utri  prior  locus  sit  concedendus,  id  recte  definiri  non  potest,  nisi 
novi  testes  pro  hac  aut  ilia  parte  reperiantur  superstitibus  eftioaciores"  (Patr. 
Apost.  1857.  Prolegg.  p.  XXIX.). 

Now,  it  is  true,  that  all  the  considerations  wC  have  adduced  in  I'avor  uf  the 
shorter  Greek  text,  except  the  first,  are  equally  good,  and  some  of  them  even 
better,  for  the  genuineness  of  the  Syrian  Ignatius,  which  has  the  additional 


§    120.      POLYCARP   OF   SMYRNA.  471 

advantage  of  lacking  many  of  the  most  offensive  passages  (though  not  in  the 
epistle  to  Polycarp).  But  against  the  S3^riac  text  is,  in  the  first  place,  the 
external  testimony  of  antiquity,  especially  that  of  Eusebius,  who  confessedly 
knew  of  and  used  seven  epistles,  whereas  the  manuscript  of  this  version, 
according  to  Cureton,  belongs  at  earliest  to  the  sixth  or  seventh  century,  a 
much  later  period,  when  the  longer  copy  also  had  become  circulated  through 
all  the  East,  and  that  too  in  a  Syriac  translation,  as  the  fragments  given  by 
Cureton  show.  Secondly,  the  internal  testimony  of  the  fact,  that  the  Syriac 
text,  on  close  examination,  betrays  the  character  of  a  fragmentary  extract 
from  the  Greek ;  as  Baur,  Hilgenfeld,  and  especially  Uhlhorn,  by  an  accurate 
comparison  of  the  two,  have  proved  in  a  manner  hitherto  unrefuted.  In  this 
state  of  the  controversy,  we  must  for  the  present  side  with  the  advocates  of 
the  genuineness  of  the  shorter  seven  epistles ;  hoping,  that,  perhaps  the  dis- 
covery of  some  new  manuscripts  may  clear  up  the  obscurity  which  still 
exists. 


§  120.  Polycarp  of  Smyrna. 

S.  PoLTCARPi,  Smyrnaeorum  episcopi  et  hieromartyris,  ad  Philippenses  Epis- 
tola,  first  editions  (Gr.  &  Lat.),  by  Petrus  Halloisius,  Duaei,  1633  ;  and 
Jac.  Usseriiis,  Lond.  1647 ;  also  in  all  the  editions  of  the  Apost.  Fath., 
especially  that  of  Jacobson,  who  compared  several  new  manuscripts. 

Marttrium  S.  Polycarpi  (epistola  circularis  ecclesiae  Smyrnensis),  first  com- 
plete ed.  in  Gr.  &  Lat.,  by  archbish.  Usher,  Lond.  1647,  then  in  all  the 
ed.  of  the  Patr.  Apost.,  especially  that  of  Jacobson,  who  here  also  made 
use  of  three  new  codices. 

Polycarp,  a  disciple  of  the  apostle  John,  and  a  friend  of 
Ignatius,  presided  as  bishop  over  the  church  of  Smyrna  in  Asia 
Minor  in  the  first  half  of  the  second  century ;  made  a  journey 
to  Eome  about  the  year  160,  to  adjust  the  Easter  dispute;  and 
died  at  the  stake  in  the  persecution  under  Marcus  Aurelius, 
A.D.  167,  at  a  great  age,  having  served  the  Lord  six  and  eighty 
years.^  He  was  not  so  original  and  intellectually  active  as 
Clement  or  Ignatius,  but  a  man  of  truly  venerable  character, 
and  simple,  patriarchal  piety.  His  disciple  Irenaeus  of  Lyons, 
in  a  letter  to  liis  fellow-pupil  Florinus,"  who  had  fallen  into  the 

1  Comp.  §  54.  There  is  a  diiference  of  opinion  as  to  the  date  of  his  death.  Sca- 
liger,  Valesius,  Gieseler,  and  Neander  fix  on  the  year  167 ;  Baronius  and  Usher  on 
169;  Tillemout  on  166;  Stieren  on  161;  Pearson,  Dodwell,  Cave,  Lardner,  and 
Gallandi  on  147. 

«  Apud  Euseb.  H.  E.  v.  20. 


472  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

error  of  Grnosticism,  has  given  us  most  valuable  reminiscences 
of  this  "  blessed  and  apostolic  presbyter,"  which  show  how 
faithfully  he  held  fast  the  apostolic  tradition,  and  how  he 
deprecated  all  departure  from  it.  He  remembered  vividly  his 
mode  of  life  and  personal  appearance,  his  discourses  to  the 
people,  and  his  communications  respecting  the  teaching  and 
miracles  of  the  Lord,  as  he  had  received  them  from  the  mouth 
of  John  and  other  eye-witnesses,  in  agreement  with  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  In  another  place,^  Irenaeus  says  of  Polycarp,  that 
.  he  all  the  time  taught  what  he  had  learned  from  the  apostles, 
and  what  the  church  handed  down ;  and  relates,  that  he  once 
called  the  Gnostic  Marcion  in  Eome,  "  the  first-born  of  Satan." 
This  is  by  no  means  incredible  in  a  disciple  of  John,  who,  with 
all  his  mildness,  forbids  his  peoj)le  to  salute  the  deniers  of  the 
true  divinity  and  humanity  of  the  Lord;^  and  it  is  confirmed  by 
a  passage  in  the  epistle  of  Polycarp  to  the  Philippians,^  where 
he  says  :  "  Whoever  doth  not  confess,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  come 
in  the  flesh,  is  antichrist,^  and  whoever  doth  not  confess  the 
mystery  of  the  cross,  is  of  the  devil ;  and  he,  who  wresteth  the 
words  of  the  Lord  according  to  his  own  pleasure,  and  saith, 
there  is  no  resurrection  and  judgment,  is  the  first-born  of  Satan. 
Therefore  would  we  forsake  the  empty  babbling  of  this  crowd 
and  their  false  teachings,  and  turn  to  the  word  which  hath  been 
given  us  from  the  beginning,  watching  in  prayer,^  continuing  in 
fasting,  and  most  humbly  praying  God,  that  he  lead  us  not  into 
tem])tation,^  as  the  Lord  hath  said :  '  The  spirit  is  willing,  but 
the  flesh  is  weak.'  "' 

This  epistle  to  the  Philippians,  which  consists  of  fourteen 
short  chapters,  and  has  been  published  in  full  since  1633,  is  the 
only  document  that  remains  to  us  from  this  last  witness  of  the 
Johanncan  age.  It  is  mentioned  first  by  his  pupil  Irenaeus ;  it 
was  still  in  public  use  in  the  churches  of  Asia  Minor  in  the  time 
of  Jerome;  and  its  contents  correspond  with  the  known  life  and 
character  of  Polycarp  ;  its  genuineness  there  is  no  just  reason  to 

'  Adv.  liner,  iii.  3,  §  4.  "2  Jnn.  10.  «  Cli.  7.  ■»  Comp.  1  Jiio.  iv.  3 

5  Comp.  1  Pet.  iv.  7.  «  Matt.  vi.  13.  '  Matt.  x.wi.  41. 


§   120.      POLYCAEP   OF  SMYRNA.  473 

doubt.^  It  was  written  after  tlie  death  of  Ignatius  (whose 
epistles  it  promises,  c.  13,  to  transmit)  in  the  name  of  Polycarp 
and  his  presbyters ;  commends  the  Philippians  for  the  love  they 
showed  Ignatius  in  bonds  and  his  companions,  and  for  their 
adherence  to  the  ancient  faith;  and  proceeds  with  simple, 
earnest  exhortations  to  love,  harmony,  contentment,  patience, 
and  perseverance,  to  praj^er  even  for  enemies  and  persecutors ; 
also  giving  special  directions  for  deacons,  presbyters,  youths, 
wives,  widows,  and  virgins;  with  various  reminiscences  from 
the  Grospels  and  the  Epistles  of  Paul  and  John  (which  make  it 
important  to  the  history  of  the  canon),  and  with  occasional 
strokes  against  Grnostic  Docetistic  errors.  Of  Christ  it  speaks  in 
high  terms,  as  the  Lord,  who  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  Grod,  to 
whom  everything  in  heaven  and  earth  is  subject ;  whom  every 
living  being  serves  ;  who  is  coming  to  judge  the  quick  and  the 
dead ;  whose  blood  God  will  require  of  all,  who  believe  not  on 
him.^  Polycarp  guards  with  sound  feeling  against  being  con- 
sidered equal  with  the  apostles  :  "I  write  these  things,  brethren, 
not  in  arrogance,  but  because  ye  have  requested  me.  For 
neither  I,  nor  any  other  like  me,  can  attain  the  wisdom  of  the 
blessed  and  glorious  Paul,  who  was  among  you,  and  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  then  living  accurately  and  firmly  taught  the  word 
of  truth,  who  also  in  his  absence  wrote  you  an  epistle,^  from 
which  ye  may  edify  yourselves  in  the  faith  given  to  you,  which 
is  the  mother  of  us  all,*  hope  following  after,  and  love  to  God 
and  to  Christ,  arid  to  neighbors  leading  further.^  For  when 
any  one  is  full  of  these  virtues,  he  fulfils  the  command  of 
righteousness  ;  for  he,  who  has  love,  is  far  from  all  sin."^  This 
does  not  agree  altogether  with  the  system  of  St.  Paul.  But 
it  should  be   remembered   that    Polycarp,   in    the  very  first 

'  Nor  has  its  integrity  been  called  in  question  with  sufficient  reason  by  Dallaeus, 
and  quite  recently  by  Bunsen,  and  Ritschl  in  the  second  ed.  of  his  Entstehung  der 
altkath.  Kirche,  p.  58-1-000. 

2  Ch.  2. 

*  'ETTiCTTi/Aaj  must  here  probably  be  understood,  lilve  the  Latin  Uterae,  of  one 
epistle. 

^  Gal.  iv.  26.  5   Trpoayoiam.  *   Ch.  3. 


474  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

chapter,  represents  fuitli  and  the  whole  salvation  as  the  gift  of 
free  grace.^ 

The  Martyrium  S.  Poljcarpi,  in  the  form  of  a  circular  letter  of 
the  church  of  Smyrna  to  the  church  of  Philomelium  in  Phrygia, 
and  all  "  parishes  of  the  Catholic  church,"  appears,  from  ch. 
18,  to  have  been  composed  before  the  first  annual  celebration  of 
his  martyrdom.  Eusebius  has  incorporated  in  his  church  history 
the  greater  part  of  this  beautiful  memorial,  and  Usher  first  pub- 
lished it  complete  in  the  Greek  original,  1647.  It  contains  an 
edifying  description  of  the  trial  and  martyrdom  of  Polycarp, 
though  embellished  with  some  marvellous  additions  of  legendary 
poesy.  When,  for  example,  the  pile  was  kindled,  the  flames  sur- 
rounded the  body  of  Polycarp,  like  the  full  sail  of  a  ship,  with- 
out touching  it ;  on  the  contrary  it  shone,  unhurt,  with  a  gorgeous 
color,  like  white  baken  bread,  or  like  gold  and  silver  in  a  crucible, 
and  gave  forth  a  lovely  fragrance  as  of  precious  spices.  Then 
one  of  the  executioners  j)ierced  the  body  of  the  saint  with  a 
spear,  and  forthwith  there  flowed  such  a  stream  of  blood  that 
the  fire  was  extinguished  by  it.  The  narrative  mentions  also 
a  dove,  which  flew  up  from  the  burning  pile;  but  Eusebius, 
Eufinus,  and  Nicephorus  make  no  reference  to  it.^  This  dove 
was  probably  first  marked  on  the  margin,  and  designed  as  a 
symbol  of  the  pure  soul  of  the  martyr,  or  of  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  which  pervaded  him ;  but  it  reminds  us  at  once  of 
the  eagle,  which  flew  up  from  the  ashes  of  the  Eoman  emperors, 
and  proclaimed  their  apotheosis,  and  is  thus  connected  with  the 
rising  worship  of  martyrs  and  saints.  Throughout  its  later  chap- 
ters this  narrative  considerably  exceeds  the  sober  limits  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  in  the  description  of  the  murtyrdom  of 
Stephen  and  the  elder  James,  and  serves  to  illustrate,  in  this 

1    XuptTi  i<TT€  (TEtrwj^ifvyi,  OVK  i^  tpyui',  liXAu  •ScXi'i^art  ^eov,  6ta  'lijeroS  XpioroC,  COmp.  Eph. 

il  8,  9. 

"  All  sorts  of  corrections,  accordingly,  have  been  proposed  for  Kcptarcpd  in  c.  1 6 ; 
e.g.  £jr'  dpiarena.  a  sinistra;  or  ncpl  aripva;  or  TTtf)inT£pa  a'liKiToi  (sciiitillarum  iiistar 
sanguinis).  Coinp.  Ilefelc:  Patr.  Ap.  p.  288  (4tli  ed.)  note  4  ;  and  Kuinart :  Ac!,-! 
primorum  martyr.  1713  (ed.  2)  p  35.  The  symbol  of  the  dove  is  frequently  tumid 
on  ancient  sepulchral  monuments. 


§    121.      THE   OTHER  APOSTOLIC   FATHERS.  475 

respect  also,  the  undeniable  difference,  notwithstanding  all  the 
afiinity,  between  the  apostolic  and  the  old  catholic  literature. 


§  121.     The  Other  Apostolic  Fathers.   Bariiahas,  Hermas,  Papias. 
The  Epistle  to  Diognetus. 

In  addition  to  the  general  literature  quoted  at  §  117  compare : 

1.  Hefele  (R.  C.)  :  Das  Sendschreiben  des  Ap.  Barnabas  auf  s  Neue  unter- 

sucht,  iibersetzt,  und  erklart.     Tiib.  1840. 

2.  Hermae  Pastor  Graece.     Primum  ed.  R.  Anger.  Praef.  et  indicem  adj. 

Gr.  Dindorf.  Lips.  1856.  Hermae  Pastor  G-raece  a  Tischendorfio 
editus,  in  Dressel's  edition  of  the  Patres  Apost.  1857,  p.  572-637,  with 
Tischendorf's  dissertation  de  Herma  G-raeco  Lipsiensi,  p.  XLIV-LV. 

3.  The  fragments  of  Papias  collected  in  Routh  :  Reliquiae  sacrae  I.,  p.  3-16. 

4.  Epistola  ad  Diognetum,  ed.  Otto  (with  Lat.  transl.,  introduction,  and 

critical  notes),  ed.  2.  Lips.  1852.  Der  Brief  an  Diognet,  herausg.  u. 
bearbeitet  von  Hollenberg.  Berl.  1853.  Comp.  also  Semisch,  in  Her- 
zog's  Encykl.  III.  407-410. 

The  writings  which  have  come  down  to  us  under  the  names 
of  Barnabas  and  Hermas  are  of  uncertain  origin,  and  inferior  to 
the  other  productions  of  the  apostolic  fathers  in  matter  as  well 
as  in  sound  simplicity,  and  contain  many  elements  which  we 
must  ascribe  to  a  later  generation. 

1.  The  Catholic  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  in  twenty-one  chap- 
ters,^ first  published  complete  by  Usher,  1643,  and  by  Voss,  1646, 
is  anonymous,  and  was  first  cited  by  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
and  Origen,  as  a  work  of  this  apostolic  man,  who  plays  so  pro- 
minent a  part  in  the  Acts.^  A  genuine  production  of  Barnabas 
would  doubtless  have  found  a  place  in  the  canon,  with  the  writ- 
ings of  Mark  and  Luke,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Be- 
sides, the  contents  of  this  epistle  are  not  worthy  of  him.  It  has 
many  good  ideas,  and  valuable  testimonies,  such  as  that  in  favor 
of  the  observance  of  the  Christian  sabbath.  But  it  goes  to  ex- 
tremes in  opposition  to  Judaism,  and  indulges  in  all  sorts  of  arti- 
ficial, sometimes  absurd,  allegorical  fancies.^     It  is  a  general 

'  The  first  four  chapters,  and  part  of  the  fifth,  exist  only  in  Latin,  the  rest  in  the 
Greek  original. 

*  Acts  i.  23;  iv.  37;  ix.  26  sq. ;  xi.  22,  30,  &c.  ^  Ch.  5-12. 


476  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.   100-311. 

letter  to  Jewish  Christian  readers  (according  to  Hilgenfeld,  Gen- 
tile Christian),  and  has  the  same  object  as  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  but  is  infinitely  behind  it  in  depth,  spiritual  fervor  and 
unction.  It  endeavors  to  show,  that  Christianity  is  the  all-sujfi- 
cient  divine  institution  for  salvation,  and  that  Judaism,  with  all 
its  laws  and  ceremonies,  was  entirely  done  away.  It  is  an  unsound 
application  of  the  true  thought,  that  the  old  is  passed  away, 
and  all  is  made  new  by  Christ.  "It  is  sin,"  says  the  writer, 
"  and  an  aggravation  of  guilt,  to  assert,  that  the  old  covenant  is 
binding  also  on  Christians.  Christians  should  labor  for  deeper 
knowledge  to  know  the  difference.  Christ  has  given  a  law,  but 
a  new  one,  without  the  yokfe  of  constraint.  Broken  are  the 
tables  of  Moses,  that  the  love  of  Christ  may  be  sealed  in  your 
hearts."^  By  Judaism,  however,  the  anonymous  author  under- 
stands not  the  Old  Testament,  but  the  carnal  misapprehension 
of  it.  The  Old  Testament  is,  with  him,  rather  a  veiled  Chris- 
tianity, which  he  puts  into  it  by  his  mystical  allegorical  interpre- 
tation, as  Philo  smuggled  into  it  the  Platonic  philosophy.  In 
this  allegorical  conception  he  goes  so  far,  that  he  actually  denies 
the  literal  historical  sense.  He  asserts,  for  example,  that  God 
never  willed  the  sacrifice  and  fasting,  the  sabbath  observance  and 
temple- worship  of  the  Jews,  and  that  the  laws  of  food  did  not 
relate  at  all  to  the  eating  of  clean  and  unclean  animals,  but  only 
to  intercourse  with  different  classes  of  men,  and  to  certain  virtues 
and  vices.  Such  an  ultra-Paulinism,  verging  almost  to  the 
anti-Judaistic  Gnosticism,  surely  does  not  suit  the  apostolic  Bar- 
nabas, who  rather  stood  as  a  mediator  between  Paul  and  the 
Jewish  apostles.  "With  many  forced  and  insijiid  views,  however, 
the  pseudo-Barnabas  has  some  profound  glances,  and  some  ink- 
lings of  a  Christian  philosophy.  He  broke  the  way  in  a  measure 
to  the  Christian  Gnostic  theology  of  the  Alexandrian  fathers ; 
and  hence  was  so  overrated  by  them. 

The  work  comes  probably  from  some  Alexandrian  Jewish 
Christian,  who  was  acquainted  with  Philo's  writings,  and  gave  to 


Ch.  4. 


§  121.   THE  OTHER  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.       477 

his  allegorical  handling  of  the  Old  Testament  a  Christian  turn. 
Hefele  puts  the  composition  between  the  years  107  and  120. 

2.  The  Shepherd  of  Hermas^  represents  a  more  practical 
and  Judaizing  spirit,  and  is  distinguished  from  all  the  produc- 
tions of  the  apostolic  fathers  by  its  literary  form.  It  is  a 
remarkable,  but  rather  tedious  apocalyptic  book,  a  sort  of  didac- 
tic religious  'romance.  It  has  come  down  to  us  in  an  old, 
inaccurate  Latin  translation,  and  was  first  published  by  Faber 
Stapulensis  in  1513.  The  Greek  text,  which  was  brought  from 
Mount  Athos  to  Leipzig  in  1856,  and  there  published,  is  not  the 
original,  but  seems  to  be  a  mediaeval  retranslation  from  the 
Latin.  The  circumstance  that  He^-mas  in  the  second  and  third 
books  is  instructed  by  an  angel  in  the  costume  of  a  shepherd, 
gives  the  work  its  title.  The  author  professes  to  be  a  contempo- 
rary of  the  Eoman  Clement,  and  appears  to  have  been  a  married 
layman,^  probably  a  Roman  merchant,  who  had  lost  his  wealth 
through  his  own  sins  and  the  misdeeds  of  his  neglected  sons, 
and  had  incurred  the  punishment  of  God,  but  had  been  awakened 
thereby  to  repentance,  and  now  came  forward  himself  as  a  plain 
preacher  of  repentance  in  the  church.  But  now  comes  the 
question :  is  he  the  apostolic  Hennas,  whom  Paul  greets  in  Eom. 
xvi.  14 ;  or  a  later  Hermas  (Hermes),  a  brother  of  the  Roman 
bishop  Pius  I.,  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century  ?  The 
former  view  was  first  proposed  by  Origen,  though  only  as  a  pri- 
vate opinion ;  while  the  latter  is  confidently  asserted  in  Mura- 
tori's  Fragmentum  de  Canone,  of  about  a.d.  170,^  and  seems  to 
have  generally  prevailed  in  the  Latin  church.  It  is  possible  that 
single  parts,  especially  the  visions,  originated  in  the  beginning 
of  the  second  century,  as  Irenaeus  cites  a  passage  from  them  as 


'  Pastor  Hermae ;  'O  Hotfifiv. 

2  So  Fleury  and  Hilgenfeld;  while  Tillemont  and  Hefele  suppose  him  to  have 
been  a  presbyter. 

3  "  Pastorem  vero  nuperrime  temporibus  nostris  in  urbe  Roma  Herma  (Hermas) 
conscripsit,  sedente  cathedra  urbis  Romae  ecclesiae  Pio  episcopo,  fratre  ejus.  Et  ideo 
legi  eum  quidem  opportet,  sed  publicare  vero  in  ecclesia  populo  neque  inter  proplie- 
tas  completum  (read  completes)  numero,  neque  inter  apostolos,  in  finem  temporura 
potest." 


•i78  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

if  from  Scripture  •/  and  that  the  younger  Hennas  was  only  the 
collector,  translator,  and  compiler  of  the  work.  The  estimates 
of  the  value  of  this  document  were  very  different.  The  Alex- 
andrian fathers,  who,  with  all  their  learning,  were  wanting  in 
sound  critical  discrimination,  use  it  often  with  great  regard,  and 
Origcn  even  calls  it  divinely  inspired.^  On  the  contrary,  the 
Fragmentum  above  mentioned  reckons  it  among  the  apocrypha, 
with  the  remark  that  it  should  be  read  only  in  private,  and  not 
publicly  in  the  church.  Tertullian,  who  took  offence  at  its 
antinomian  doctrine  of  the  possibility  of  a  second  repentance, 
and  the  lawfulness  of  second  marriage,  speaks  even  contemptu- 
ously of  it,  as  also  does  Jerome.  At  all  events  it  is  far  from  the 
apostolic  simplicity,  and  often  reminds  one  of  such  Jewish 
apocalyptic  writings  as  the  Book  of  Enoch,  the  Fourth  Book 
of  Ezra,  and  the  lost  Book  of  Eldad  and  Mcdad,  expressly  cited 
by  Hermas.  Its  doctrine  of  angels,  particularly,  flowed  from 
such  apocryphal  sources. 

As  to  its  matter,  the  Pastor  Hcrmae  is  a  sort  of  system  of 
Christian  morality,  and  a  call  to  repentance  and  to  a  renovation 
of  the  already  somewhat  slumbering  and  secularized  church. 
It  falls  into  three  books  :^  (1)  Visiones  ;  four  visions  and  revela- 
tions, which  were  given  to  the  autlior  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Rome,  and  in  which  the  church  appears  to  him  first  in  the  form 
of  a  venerable  matron,  then  as  a  tower,  and  lastly  as  a  virgin. 
(2)  Mandata,  or  twelve  commandments,  prescribed  by  an  angel 
in  the  garb  of  a  shepherd.  (3)  Similitudines,  or  ten  parables, 
like  the  visions,  in  which  the  church  again  appears  in  the  form 
of  a  building,  and  the  different  virtues  are  represented  under  the 
figures  of  stones  and  trees. 

The  theological  hue  of  the  Pastor  is  very  different  from  that 
of  the  first  epistle  of  Clement  to  tlie  Corinthians,  and  bears 
witness  that  in  the  Roman  church,  whence  it  likewise  issued, 

'  Adv.  haer.  IV.  20  §  2 :  E^tcv  h  yoa>pfi ;  perliaps  through  a  fault  of  memory. 

2  "  Valde  utilis  et  divinitus  inspirata."     Explan.  in  Ep.  ad  Rom.  xvi.  14. 

3  This  division,  however,  is  made  by  later  editors,  and  is  found  neither  in  the  Ujanu- 
scripta  nor  willi  the  ancient  wi-iters. 


§  121.   THE  OTHER  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.       479 

tlie  free  Pauline  spirit  dwelt  side  by  side,  in  tlie  beginning  of  the 
second  century,  with  a  legal  Jewish  Christian  tendency,  which 
afterwards,  in  a  far  richer  form,  became  the  reigning  one.  The 
work  reminds  one  of  the  Epistle  of  James,  and  shows  no  trace 
of  the  influence  of  Paul,  though  it  nowhere  contends  with  him. 
It  knows  little  of  the  gospel,  and  nothing  of  justifying  faith; 
on  the  contrary,  it  talks  much  of  the  "  law  of  Christ "  and  of 
repentance,  lays  chief  stress  on  practice,  enjoins  fasting  and 
voluntary  poverty,  and  teaches  the  merit,  even  the  supereroga- 
tory merit,  of  good  works,  and  the  sin-atoning  virtue  of  martyr- 
dom. Its  Jewish  Christianity,  however,  is  by  no  means 
Ebionistic,  but  quite  conformed  to  catholic  ideas.  The  work  of 
Hermas  requires  baptism  as  indispensable  to  salvation ;  agrees 
in  all  essential  points  with  the  orthodox  christology,  as  well 
as  with  the  Eoman  penance  theory ;  and  rests  on  the  view  of 
an  exclusive  church,  in  which  alone  salvation  is  to  be  found. 
Nor  does  it,  with  all  its  zeal  for  a  stricter  discipline,  run  into 
the  excesses  of  Montanism ;  it  ascribes,  indeed,  supererogatory 
merit  to  abstinence,  but  allows  second  marriage  and  second 
repentance,  at  least  till  the  return  of  the  Lord,  which  is  supposed 
to  be  near  at  hand.^  It  closes  with  the  characteristic  exhorta- 
tion :  "  Do  good  works,  ye  who  have  received  earthly  blessings 
from  the  Lord,  that  the  building  of  the  tower  (the  church) 
may  not  be  finished  while  ye  loiter  ;  for  the  labor  of  the  build- 
ing has  been  interrupted  for  your  sakes.  Unless,  therefore, 
ye  hasten  to  do  right,  the  tower  will  be  finished,  and  ye  will  be 
shut  out." 

3.  Papias,  a  disciple  of  John  (?)  and  friend  of  Polycarp, 
bishop  of  Hierapolis,  in  Phrygia,  till  towards  the  middle  of  the 
second  century,  was  a  pious  man,  and  well  read  in  the  Scriptures, 
but  credulous  and  weak  minded.  He  entertained  a  grossly  mate- 
riahstic  view  of  the  millennium.  He  collected  with  great  zeal 
the  oral  traditions  of  the  apostles  respecting  the  discourses  and 
works  of  Jesus,  and  published  them  under  the  title:  "Explana- 

'  On  account  of  this  comparative  mildness,  Tertullian  calls  Hermas  sarcastically, 
"  ille  apocryphus  Pastor  moechorum."    De  pud.  c.  20,  comp.  c.  10. 


480  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

tions  of  the  Lord's  Discourses/'^  in  five  books.  Altliough  this 
work  (according  to  Galhindi  and  Pitra)  maintained  itself  down 
to  the  thirteenth  century,  yet  we  possess  only  some  fragments  of 
it  in  Irenaeus  and  Eusebius,  which,  together  with  a  few  valuable 
notices,  in  regard,  for  example,  to  the  Gospels  of  Matthew  and 
Mark,  contain  perfectly  monstrous  and  fabulous  inventions. 
Papias  puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  Lord,  for  instance,  the  follow- 
ing prophecy  concerning  the  vines  in  the  millennium :  "  The 
days  shall  come,  in  which  vines  shall  grow  up,  each  having  ten 
thousand  main  branches,  and  on  every  main  branch  ten  thousand 
arms,  and  on  every  arm  ten  thousand  shoots,-  and  on  every 
shoot  ten  thousand  bunches,  and  on  every  bunch  ten  thousand 
grapes,  and  every  grape,  when  pressed,  shall  give  twenty-five 
measures  of  wine.  And  if  any  one  take  hold  of  a  holy  bunch, 
another  bunch  shall  cry  out,  I  am  better,  take  me,  and  through 
me  bless  the  Lord."^  Even  understood  as  a  figure  for  the  in- 
exhaustible spiritual  fruitfulness  of  Christ  and  his  church,  this 
parabolic  speech  contrasts  quite  too  strongly  with  our  Lord's 
discourses  in  the  Gospels,  to  lay  any  possible  claim  to  credibility. 
4.  The  anonymous  Epistle  to  Diogxetus,  in  twelve  chap- 
ters, first  published  in  Greek  by  Henry  Stephanus,  1592,  is  a 
reply  to  a  distinguished  heathen^  in  vindication  of  Christianity, 
and  forms  the  transition  from  the  post-apostolic  literature  to  the 
apologetic.  It  evinces  fine  taste  and  classical  culture,  is  remark- 
able for  its  fresh  enthusiasm  of  faith,  richness  of  thought,  and 
elegance  of  style,  and  is  altogether  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
memorials  of  Christian  antiquity.  We  have  already  given,  in 
the  introduction  to  this  period,^  its  masterly  description  of  the 

•  AiiyitDV  KVptOKtov  t^r)y»i(r<:i5. 

"  Preserved  in  the  Latin  translation  of  Irenaeus,  Adv.  haer.  Y.  c.  33,  §  3  (comp.  §  4), 
wlio  seems  to  have  taken  this  childish  parable  in  good  faith.  With  it  agrees  the 
fragment  of  Papias,  which  Dom  Pitra,  in  the  first  vol.  of  the  Spicilegium  Solesniense, 
communicates  from  an  Armenian  manuscript  of  the  twelfth  century.  But  this  was 
not  a  translation  of  Papias,  as  Pitra  supposes,  but  of  Irenaeus,  as  the  title  and  the 
opening  words  plainly  intimate. 

3  Otto  conjectures  that  he  was  the  preceptor  of  the  emperor  Marcus  Aurelius, 
whose  name  was  Diognetus.  But  this  would  bring  the  composition  down  to  the 
middle  of  the  second  century. 

*  See  §  46. 


§   122.      JUSTIN"  THE   PHILOSOPHER  AND   MARTYR.  481 

Christian  life  truly  worthy  of  a  disciple  of  the  apostles.  And 
the  author  calls  himself  such  in  the  text/  but  not  till  the  eleventh 
chapter,  which,  with  the  twelfth,  seems  to  be  an  addition  by  a 
later  hand,  and  is  even  marked  in  the  manuscripts  as  suspicious. 
The  epistle  itself  has  no  certain  marks  of  the  precise  time  of  its 
composition,  but  proves  itself  in  general  a  production  of  the 
transition  period  between  the  simple  practical  faith  of  the  apos- 
tolic fathers  and  the  reflective  theology  of  the  apologists.  The 
manuscripts,  and  more  recently  Otto,  ascribe  it  to  Justin  Martyr, 
whose  style,  however,  is  far  from  being  so  pure  and  forcible  as 
this.  The  epistle,  also,  rather  breathes  the  free  spirit  of  the 
Pauline  school.  Hefele  puts  it  among  the  works  of  the  apostolic 
fathers,  and  assigns  it  to  the  age  of  Trajan,  while  others  place  it 
later  in  the  reign  of  Adrian,  and  attribute  it  to  the  apologist 
Quadratus  (so  Dorner)  or  Aristides. 


§  122.     Justin  the  Philosopher  and  Martyr. 

I.  Corpus  Apologetartjm  Christianorum  saeculi  secundi,  ed.  J.  C.  Th.  Otto, 

Jen.  1847  sqq.  (The  first  5  vols,  contain  the  genuine  and  spurious  Opera 
S.  JusTiNi  Philosophi  et  Martyris.)  Older  ed.  of  the  Apologists  by  Prud. 
Maranus,  Par.  1742,  republ.  at  Venice,  1747.  The  "  Apologies  "  of 
Justin  M.  were  also  edited  by  Grabe  in  1700,  and  by  Thirlby  in  1722. 

II.  Bp.  Kaye  :  Some  Account  of  the  Writings  and  Opinions  of  Justin  Martyr. 

Cambr.  1829,  3d  ed.  1853.  C.  Semisch  :  Justin  der  Miirtyrer.  Bresl. 
1840,  2  vols.  The  same  in  English,  by  Ryland,  Edinb.  1844.  2  vols. 
C.  Otto:  Zur  Characteristik  des  heil.  Justinus.  Wien,  1852.  Also 
his  art.  "  Justinus  der  Apologet,"  in  Ersch  and  G-ruber  :  Encykl.  Se- 
cond Section,  30th  part  (1853),  pp.  39-76. 

The  next  series  of  the  church  fathers,  which  flourished  in  the 
reigns  of  Adrian,  Antoninus  Pius,  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  is  the 
Apologists ;  so  called,  because  they  directed  their  literary  labors 
chiefly,  though  not  exclusively,  to  the  defence  of  Christianity 
against  the  attacks  and  the  slanders  of  heathen  and  Jewish 
enemies.2  They  are  distinguished  from  the  apostolic  fathers  by 
greater  culture  and  learning.     They  were  mostly  philosophers 

A.iToaT6\wv  y€v6^ivoi  fta^rirfjs,  2  Comp,  8  60—66. 

81 


482  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

and  rhetoricians,  wlio  embraced  Christianity  in  mature  age  after 
earnest  investigation,  and  found  peace  in  it  for  mind  and  heart. 
Their  writings  breathe  the  same  heroism,  the  same  enthusiasm 
for  the  faith,  which  animated  the  martyrs  in  their  sufferings  and 
death. 

The  most  eminent  of  these  is  Flavins  Justinus,  sumamed,  so 
early  as  by  Tertullian,  "Philosopher  and  Martyr."  He  was 
born  towards  the  close  of  the  first  century,  or  in  the  beginning 
of  the  second,  in  the  Graeco-Roman  colony  of  Flavia  Neapolis, 
the  ancient  Sichem  in  Samaria  (now  Nablus),  and  educated  in 
the  Hellenic  heathenism.  Thirsting  for  truth,  he  went,  as  he 
himself  relates,  to  a  Stoic,  then  to  a  Peripatetic,  then  to  a  Pytha- 
gorean, without  finding  satisfaction.  At  last  he  cast  himself  into 
the  arms  of  Platonism,  and  thought  himself  already  near  the 
promised  goal  of  this  philosophy,  the  vision  of  Grod,  when  an 
unknown  venerable  old  man,  in  a  solitary  walk  on  the  sea-shore, 
shook  his  confidence  in  all  human  wisdom,  and  pointed  him  to 
the  writings  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets.  In  these  he  soon 
found  the  infallible  philosophy,  which  rests  upon  the  firm 
ground  of  divine  revelation. 

Forthwith  he  sought  the  society  of  the  Christians,  whose  pious 
walk  and  courage  in  death  had  already  extorted  his  esteem,  and 
received  instruction  from  them  in  the  history  and  doctrine  of  the 
gospel.  Thus,  in  perhaps  the  thirtieth  3'ear  of  his  age,  the 
enthusiastic  Platonist  became  a  believing  Christian.  To  Tatian 
also,  and  Thcophilus  of  Antioch,  and  Hilary,  the  Jewish  pro- 
phets were  in  like  manner  the  bridge  to  the  Christian  faith. 

After  his  conversion  Justin  devoted  himself  wholly  to  the 
vindication  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  an  itinerant  evangelist, 
with  no  fixed  abode,  and  no  regular  office  in  the  church.  "  Every 
one,"  says  he,  "  who  can  preach  the  truth  and  does  not  preach 
it,  incurs  the  judgment  of  God."  And  like  Aristides,  Athena- 
goras,  Tertullian,  Heraclas,  Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  he  retained 
his  philosopher's  cloak,'  that  lie  might  the  more  readily  assume 

'    Toi/?wi,  rnijiiftny,  pallium. 


§   122.      JUSTIN   THE   PHILOSOPHER   AND   MARTYR.  483 

philosopliical  religious  discourse.  As  soon  as  lie  appeared  in 
early  morning,  as  he  Mmself  tells  us,  upon  a  public  walk, 
many  came  to  Mm  with :  ^iXorfo^ps  X"-"?-  •  ^^  Ephesus  he  made  an 
effort  to  gain  the  Jew  Trypho  and  his  friends  to  the  Christian 
faith. 

He  labored  last,  for  the  second  time,  in  Rome.  Here,  by  the 
instigation  of  a  Cynic  philosopher,  Crescens,  whom  he  had 
beaten  in  a  disputation,  he,  with  six  other  Christians,  about  the 
year  166,  was  scourged  and  executed.  Fearlessly  and  joyfully, 
as  in  life,  so  also  in  the  face  of  death,  he  bore  witness  to  the 
truth,  and  proved  by  his  own  example  the  steadfastness,  of  which 
he  had  so  often  boasted  in  his  beieving  brethren.  His  last 
words  were :  "  We  desire  nothing  more  than  to  suffer  for  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ;  for  this  gives  us  salvation  and  joy  fulness 
before  his  dreadful  judgment  seat,  at  which  all  the  world  must 
appear." 

To  his  oral  testimony  Justin  added  extensive  literary  labors 
on  the  field  of  apology  and  polemics.  His  principal  works  are  a 
dialogue  with  the  Jew  Trypho  (soon  after  a.d.  139),  in  which  he 
answers  the  objections  of  Judaism,  and  two  Apologies  for 
Christianity  against  heathenism,  a  larger,  of  the  year  139,  ad- 
dressed to  the  emperor  Antoninus  Pius,  and  a  smaller,  addressed 
to  Marcus  Aurelius,  between  161  and  166.  Of  the  other  works 
which  bear  his  name,  an  address  "To  the  Grreeks,"  an  "Exhor- 
tation to  the  Greeks,"  a  treatise  "  On  the  Unity  of  Grod,"  another 
"On  the  Resurrection,"  and  the  "Epistle  to  Diognetus"  described 
in  preceding  section,  are  of  more  or  less  doubtful  genuineness ; 
the  "  Deposition  of  the  True  Faith,"  the  epistle  "  to  Zenas  and 
Serenus,"  the  "Refutation  of  some  Theses  of  Aristotle,"  the 
"  Questions  to  the  Orthodox,"  the  "  Questions  of  the  Christians 
to  the  Heathens,"  and  the  "  Questions  of  the  Heathens  to  the 
Christians,"  are  decidedly  spurious,  and  belong  in  some  cases  to 
the  third  and  fourth  centuries;  and  the  polemic  works  "against 
all  Heresies,"  mentioned  by  himself  in  his  first  apology,  and 
"  against  Marcion,"  of  which  Irenaeus  gives  us  fragments,  are 
lost.     Perhaps  tlie  latter  was  only  a  part  of  the  former. 


481  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

The  works  of  Justin  bring  vividly  before  us  tlie  time  wben 
the  church  was  still  a  small  sect,  despised  and  persecuted,  but 
bold  in  faith  and  joyful  in  death.  They  everywhere  attest  his 
honesty  and  earnestness,  his  enthusiastic  love  for  Christianity, 
and  his  fearlessness  in  its  defence  against  all  assaults  from  with- 
out and  perversions  from  within.  Justin  was  a  man  of  very 
extensive  reading,  enormous  memory,  inquiring  spirit,  and  many 
profound  ideas,  but  wanting  in  critical  discernment.  His  mode 
of  reasoning  is  often  ingenious  and  convincing,  but  sometimes 
loose  and  rambling,  fanciful  and  puerile.  His  style  is  easy  and 
vivacious,  but  diffuse  and  careless.  He  is  the  first  of  the  church 
fathers  to  bring  classical  scholarship  and  Platonic  philosophy  in 
contact  with  the  Christian  theology.  He  found  in  Platonism 
many  responses  to  the  gospel,  which  he  attributed  in  part  to  the 
fragmentary,  germ-like  revelation  of  the  Logos  before  the  incar- 
nation,^ and  in  part  to  an  acquaintance  with  the  Mosaic  scrip- 
tures. With  him  Christ  was  the  absolute  reason,^  and  Chris- 
tianity the  only  true  philosoph3\^  His  sources  of  theological 
knowledge  are,  partly  the  living  church  tradition,  partly  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  from  which  he  cites  most  frequently,  and  gene- 
rally from  memory,  the  Old  Testament  prophets  (in  the  Septua- 
gint),  and  the  "  Memorials  of  the  Apostles,"^  as  he  calls  the 
canonical  Gospels.  He  expressly  mentions  the  Eevelation  of 
John.  But,  like  the  Pastor  Hermae,  he  nowhere  notices  Paul ; 
though  several  allusions  to  passages  of  his  Epistles  can  hardly 
be  mistaken,  and  Justin's  position  towards  heathenism  was  any- 
thing but  the  Ebionistic,  and  was  fixr  more  akin  to  that  of  Paul. 
Any  dogmatical  inference  from  tliis  silence  is  the  less  admissible, 
since  in  the  genuine  writings  of  this  father  not  one  of  the  apos- 
tles or  evangelists  is  expressly  named,  but  reference  is  alwa3'S 
made  directly  to  Christ.  Justin's  exegesis  of  the  Old  Testament 
is  typological  and  Messianic  throughout,  finding  references 
everywhere  to  Christ 


•  Atfyoj  OTrepfiaTiKSs,  ^  'O  toj  Xdyof. 

3  Miii /;  ifii'^uaoipia  d<T,pa\fii  re  Ka'i  avfipopoi.  *  'At'i^i.  r;  <■  i/ci'/i  ir  i   rioy  dirooro'Xtoi'. 


§  123.    THE  OTHER  APOLOGISTS  OF  THE  SECOND  CENTURY.    485 

§  123.     The  Other  Oreeh  Apologists  of  the  Second  Century. 
Corpus  Apologetarum,  etc.,  by  Maranus  and  by  Otto,  see  §  122. 

Somewliat  earlier  than  Justin,  under  Adrian,  Quadratus,  a 
disciple  of  the  apostles  and  bishop  of  Athens,  Aristides,  an 
eloquent  philosopher  of  Athens,  and  Aristo  of  Pella,  wrote 
apologies  for  Christianity ;  the  first  two  to  the  heathens,  the 
third  to  the  Jews.  But  their  works,  a  few  fragments  excepted, 
have  all  disappeared.  The  same  is  true  of  the  writings  of  Me- 
LITO  of  Sardis  (of  which  we  have  interesting  fragments  in  Euse- 
bius),  Claudius  Apollinaris  of  Hierapolis,  and  Miltiades, 
who  all  lived  under  Marcus  Aurelius.  The  apology  of  Melito, 
one  of  the  most  eminent  bishops  and  most  prolific  authors  of  his 
time,  from  whom  Eusebius  enumerates  eighteen  works,  was 
composed  about  the  year  170,  and  has  been  recently  re-dis- 
covered in  a  Syriac  translation,  and  placed  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum, but  not  yet  published.  We  have  an  important  fragment 
from  him  on  the  canon  of  the  Old  Testament. 

Of  the  following  apologists,  who  flourished  after  the  middle 
of  the  second  century,  we  possess  the  works  : 

1.  Tatian,  of  Assyria,  an  itinerant  philosopher,  afterwards  a 
pupil  of  Justin,  whom  he  met  in  Kome.  In  his  "  Address  to 
the  Grreeks"^  he  vindicates  Christianity  as  the  "philosophy  of 
the  barbarians,"  and  exposes  the  contradictions,  absurdities,  and 
immoralities  of  the  Grreek  mythology  from  actual  knowledge 
and  with  much  spirit  and  acuteness,  but  with  vehement  con- 
tempt and  bitterness.  He  afterwards  fell  back  to  Gnosticism, 
and  became  the  founder  of  the  ascetic  sect  of  the  Bncratites.^ 
Among  his  lost  works  is  also  the  "  Diatessaron,"^  a  harmony  of 
the  four  Gospels,  in  which,  according  to  Theodoret,  he  suppresses 
the  genealogies  and  all  that  attests  the  human  descent  of  Jesus  ; 
— under  the  influence,  no  doubt,  of  a  Gnostic  docetistic  spirit. 
Daniel,  in  his  monograph  on  Tatian,  thinks  he  only  anticipated 


Aoyoj  7rpdj"'EXA>7j/af.  2  Comp.  §  72,  p.  245.  '  Aia 


reoaapdiv. 


486  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

monkery,  and,  a  centuiy  later,  with  tlie  same  principles,  would 
have  been  reckoned  among  the  saints.  But  even  in  the  second  cen- 
tury there  was  a  considerable  difference  between  the  asceticism  of 
the  catholic  church  and  that  of  the  Gnostic  dualistic  stamp. 

2.  Athenagoras,  a  converted  philosopher  of  Athens,  ad- 
dressed a  irpea^iia  (intcrccssio)  '^spi  xpitfrjav^v  to  Marcus  Aurelius 
and  his  son  Commodus  (about  177),  in  which  he  calmly,  clearly, 
eloquently,  and  conclusively  refutes  the  three  charges  of  athe- 
ism, incest,  and  Thyestean  feasts.  Besi(ies  this  we  have  from 
him  an  able  treatise  "  On  the  Resurrection  of  the  Dead,"  which 
he  endeavors  to  establish  from  the  wisdom,  power,  and  justice 
of  God,  as  well  as  from  the  destiny  of  man. 

3.  Theophilus  of  Antioch,  who  died  while  bishop  there  in 
181,  wrote  three  books  in  defence  of  the  Christian  faith,  addressed 
to  an  educated  heathen  friend,  Antolycus;^  evincing  extensive 
knowledge  of  Grecian  literature,  considerable  philosophical 
talent,  and  a  power  of  graphic,  elegant  representation.  lie  is  the 
first  to  use  the  term  "  trias"  for  the  divine  trinity.  His  other 
works,  polemic  and  exegetical,  are  lost. 

4.  Under  the  name  of  the  philosopher  IIermias,  otherwise 
entirely  unknown  to  us,  we  have  a  "  Mockery  of  Heathen  Philo- 
sophers," ^  which,  with  the  light  arms  of  wit  and  sarcasm,  en- 
deavors to  prove  from  the  history  of  philosophy,  by  exposing 
the  contradictions  of  the  various  systems,  the  truth  of  Paul's 
declaration,  that  the  wisdom  of  this  world  is  foolishness  with 
God.  Many  scholars,  however,  assign  this  small  and  unimpor- 
tant work  to  a  much  later  period. 

Contemporary  with  these  apologists,  though  not  of  their  class, 
were  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Corinth  (about  170),  who  wrote  eight 
Catholic  Epistles  to  the  Lacedemonians,  the  Athenians,  the  Ro- 
mans, and  others ;  and  Hegesippus  (  f  about  180),  an  orthodox 
Jewish  Christian,  who  collected  on  his  extensive  travels  "Memo- 
rials" ^  of  the  apostolic  and  post-apostolic  age,  particularly  of  the 

'  ITpoj  Airo'XuffOf.  '  Aiiirrvpiiiis  Tuv  c^o)  <fn\oa6<pu>i'. 

»  ■Y7T»,,i.,i//ara,  in  fivG  books.  The  Fragments  of  Hegesippus  are  collected  in 
Routh's  Reliquiae  sacrae,  sec.  ed.  vol  i.  205-219. 


§   124.      IRENAEUS.  487 

Palestinian  cliurclies.  But  nothing  remains  to  us  of  either,  except 
some  fragments  in  Eusebius.  The  work  of  Hegesippus  was  the 
first  effort,  though  a  very  imperfect  one,  towards  a  history  of  the 
church.  His  reports  on  the  character  and  martyrdom  of  St. 
James  the  Just,  Simeon  of  Jerusalem,  the  rise  of  heresies,  the 
episcopal  succession  and  the  preservation  of  the  orthodox  doc- 
trine in  Corinth  and  Eome,  as  embodied  in  the  history  of  Eusebius, 
command  attention  for  their  antiquity;  but  as  they  show  that 
his  object  was  apologetic  and  polemical  rather  than  historical, 
and  as  they  bear  a  somewhat  Judaizing  (though  by  no  means 
Ebionistic)  coloring,  they  must  be  received  with  critical  caution. 

§  124.    Irenaeus. 

I.  S.  Irenaei  Episcopi  Lugdun.  quae  supersunt  omnia,  ed.  A.  Stierex,  Lips. 

1853.  2  vols.  (The  second  volume "  contains  the  Prolegomena  to  the 
earlier  editions  by  Erasmus,  Basel,  1526 ;  Gallasius,  Gen.  1570 ;  Gry- 
naeiis,  Bas.  1571;  Fevardentius,  Col.  1596  and  often;  Grabe,  Oxf.  1702; 
and,  above  all,  Massuet,  Par.  1710,  and  Ven.  1734,  2  vols.  fol. ;  also  the 
disputations  of  Maffei  and  Pfaff  on  the  Fragments  of  Irenaeus.)  The 
five  books  Adv.  Haereses  are  also  separately  edited  with  comments  by 
W.  WiGAN  Harvey,  Cambr.  1857,  in  2  vols. 

II.  Ken.  Massuet  (R.  C.)  :  Dissertationes  in  Irenaei  libros  (de  hereticis,  de 

Irenaei  vita,  gestis  et  scriptis,  de  Ir.  doctrina),  prefixed  to  his  echtion  of 
the  Opera.  Deyling  :  Irenaeus,  evangelicae  veritatis  confessor  ac  testis. 
Lips.  1721  (against  Massuet).  Stieren:  Art.  "Irenaeus"  in  Ersch  and 
G-ruber's  Encykl.  II.  sect.  Vol.  XXIII.  J.  Beaven  :  Life  of  Irenaeus. 
Lond.  1841.  Duncker:  Des  heil.  Irenaeus  Christologie.  Gott.  1843. 
Schaff:  Irenaeus  (in  "Der  Deutsche  Kirchenfreund,"  vol.  V.)  Mer- 
cersb.  1852. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  apology  against  false  religions 
without  arose  the  polemic  literature  against  the  heresies,  the 
various  forms  of  pseudo- Christianity,  especially  the  Gnostic ;  and 
upon  this  was  formed  the  dogmatic  theology  of  the  church.  At 
the  head  of  the  old  catholic  controversialists  stand  Irenaeus  and 
Lis  disciple  Hippolytus,  both  of  Greek  education,  but  both 
belonging,  in  their  ecclesiastical  relations  and  labors,  to  the 
West. 

Irenaeus  sprang  from  Asia  Minor,  was  born  between  the  years 


488  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D,    100-311. 

120  and  140,  and  enjoyed  in  his  youth  the  instruction  of  the 
venerable  Polycarp  of  Smyrna.''  Through  this  hnk  he  still  was 
connected  with  the  Johannean  age.  The  spirit  of  his  preceptor 
passed  over  to  him.  "  What  I  heard  from  him,"  says  he,  "  that 
wrote  I  not  on  paper,  but  in  my  heart,  and  by  the  grace  of  God 
I  constantly  bring  it  afresh  to  mind."  Perhaps  he  also  accom- 
panied Polycarp  on  his  journey  to  Rome  in  connexion  with  the 
Easter  controversy.  During  the  persecution  in  South  Gaul 
under  Marcus  Aurelius,  he  was  a  presbyter  there,  and  was  sent 
by  his  people  to  the  Eoman  bishop  Eleutherus,  as  a  mediator  in 
the  Montanistic  disputes.  After  the  death  of  Pothinus,  he  took 
the  place  of  this  aged  martyr  in  178  as  bishop  of  Lyons,  and 
labored  there  with  zeal  and  success,  by  tongue  and  pen,  for  the 
restoration  of  the  heavily  visited  church,  for  the  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity in  Gaul,  and  for  the  defence  and  development  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  church.  He  is  supposed  to  have  died  as  a  martyr 
in  the  persecution  under  Septimius  Severus,  A.D.  202  (though 
the  silence  of  Tertullian  and  Eusebius  makes  this  point  very 
doubtful),  and  was  buried  under  the  altar  of  the  church  of  St 
John  in  Lyons. 

L-enaeus  was  the  leading  representative  of  the  Asiatic  Johan- 
nean school  in  the  second  half  of  the  second  century,  the  cham- 
pion of  catholic  orthodoxy  against  Gnostic  heresy,  and  the 
mediator  between  the  Eastern  and  "Western  churches.  He  united 
a  learned  Greek  education  and  philosophical  penetration  with 
practical  wisdom  and  moderation,  and  a  sound  sense  of  the  sim- 
ple and  essential  in  Christianity.  We  plainly  trace  in  him  the 
influence  of  the  spirit  of  John.  "  The  true  way  to  God,"  says 
he,  in  opposition  to  the  false  Gnosis,  "is  love.  It  is  better  to  be 
willing  to  know  nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  the  crucified,  than  to 
fall  into  ungodliness  through  over-curious  questions  and  paltry 
subtleties."  He  was  an  enemy  of  all  error  and  schism,  and,  on 
the  whole,  the  most  orthodox  of  the  ante-Nicene  fathers,  except 
in  eschatology.     Here,  with  Papias  and  most  of  his  contempo- 

'  Conip.  §  120. 


§   124.      IRENAEUS.  489 

raries,  lie  maintained  the  millenarian  views  whicli  were  subse- 
quently abandoned  by  the  catholic  church.  But  with  all  liis 
zeal  for  pure  and  sound  doctrine,  he  was  liberal  towards  subor- 
dinate differences,  and  remonstrated  with  the  bishop  of  Eome 
for  his  unapostolic  efforts  to  force  an  outward  uniformity  in 
respect  to  the  time  and  manner  of  celebrating  Easter.^  "  The 
apostles  have  ordained,"  says  he  in  the  third  fragment,  which 
appears  to  refer  to  that  controversy,  "  that  we  make  conscience 
with  no  one  of  food  and  drink,  or  of  particular  feasts,  new  moons, 
and  sabbaths.  "Whence,  then,  controversies;  whence  schisms? 
We  keep  feasts  but  with  the  leaven  of  wickedness  and  deceit, 
rending  asunder  the  church  of  God,  and  we  observe  the  out- 
ward, to  the  neglect  of  the  higher,  faith  and  love."  He  showed 
the  same  moderation  in  the  Montanistic  troubles. 

The  most  important  work  of  Irenaeus  is  his  refutation  of 
Gnosticism,^  in  five  books.  It  was  composed  in  the  pontificate 
of  Eleutherus,  therefore  between  the  years  177  and  192.  It  is  at 
once  the  polemic  theological  masterpiece  of  the  ante-Nicene  age, 
and  the  richest  mine  of  information  respecting  the  Gnostic,  par- 
ticularly the  Valentinian  heresy,  and  the  church  doctrine  of 
that  age.^ 

His  epistle  against  Florinus  on  the  unity  of  God  and  the  origin 
of  evil,  a  letter  to  the  Eoman  bishop  Victor  on  the  Easter  ques- 
tion, and  a  writing  to  Blastus  on  schism,^  are  all  gone  except  a 
few  fragments.  So  with  his  treatise  on  the  peculiarity  of  the 
style  of  the  apostle  Paul,  which  he  justly  traces  to  the  mighty 
momentum  of  thought  in  that  impetuous  mind.  Perhaps  Ire- 
naeus is  the  author  also  of  the  letter  of  the  churches  of  Lyons 

1  Comp.  §  98. 

2  "EAtyxo?  Kal  dvaTpmrii  Tfjg  ipevSoviiiov  yvasacui  (1  Tim.  vi.  20) ;  cited,  since  Jerome, 
under  the  simpler  title:  Adversus  haereses.  The  Greek  original  of  the  work  has 
come  down  to  us  only  hj  fragments  (in  Euseb.,  Theodor.,  and  especially  Epiphanius: 
Haer.  xxxi.  c.  9-33) ;  but  we  have  it  complete  in  a  literal  Latin  translation  crowded 
with  Grecisms.  An  attempt  to  translate  it  back,  for  the  better  understanding  of  it, 
has  been  made  on  the  first  four  chapters  of  the  3rd  book  by  H.  W.  J.  Thiersch 
("Stud.  u.  Kritiken,"  1842).  Semler's  objections  to  its  genuineness  have  been  so 
thoroughly  refuted  by  Chr.  G.  F.  Walch  (De  authentia  librorum  Irenaei,  1774),  that 
Mohler  and  Stieren  might  have  spared  themselves  the  trouble. 

3  Comp.  §  70-74.  4  n^pi  <T;^;ia/xaruf. 


490  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

and  Yienne  on  the  persecution  there, — a  worthy  parallel  to  the 
similar  letter  of  the  church  of  Smyrna. 

Finally,  we  must  mention  four  more  Greek  fragments  of 
Irenaeus,  which  Pfaflf  discovered  at  Turin  in  1715,  and  first  pub- 
lished. Their  genuineness  has  been  called  in  question  by  some 
Eoman  divines,  though  without  sufficient  reason.  The  first 
treats  of  the  true  knowledge,^  which  consists  not  in  the  solution 
of  subtle  questions,  but  in  divine  wisdom  and  the  imitation  of 
Christ;  the  second  is  on  the  eucharist;^  the  third,  on  the  duty 
of  toleration  in  subordinate  points  of  difference,  with  reference 
to  the  Easter  difficulties ;  the  fourth,  on  the  object  of  the  incar- 
nation, which  is  stated  to  be  the  purging  away  of  sin  and  the 
final  annihilation  of  all  evil. 


§  125.   Hippolytus. 

I.  S.  HippOLYTi  Opera,  ed.  J.  A.  Fabricius,   Hamb.   171G-18.  2  vols. ;  ed. 

Gallandi  in  Biblioth.  Patrum,  Yen.  1760,  Vol.  II.  Comp.  Photius:  Cod. 
121.  Euseb. :  H.  E.  VI.  20,  22.  Prudentius  in  the  11th  of  his  Martyr 
Hymns  {th^I  ati^dv^^v).  Hieron. :  CataL  61. 
S.  HippOLYTi  Episc.  et  Mart.  Refutationes  omnium  haeresium  hbrorum  decern 
quae  supersunt,  ed.  Duncker  et  Schneidewin.  Gott.  1856.  The  first 
edition  of  this  work,  which  was  discovered  at  Mt.  Athos  in  Greece  in 
1842,  and  is  to  be  found  in  the  hbrary  at  Paris,  appeared  under  the  name 
of  Origen  :  'iiptylvorj  ipL'Koaopov/it.ci'a  rj  xata  rtaniLv  alpiaiuv  tXtyxoi.  Origenis 
Philosophoumena,  &c.,  ed.  Em.  Miller,  Oxon.  1851.  (The  first  book  had 
been  long  known  through  the  works  of  Origen,  but  had  justly  been 
already  denied  to  him  by  Huet  and  de  la  Rue ;  the  second  and  third, 
and  beginning  of  the  fourth,  are  still  wanting ;  the  tenth  lacks  the  con- 
clusion. This  work  is  now  universally  ascribed  to  Hippolytus,  except 
by  Dr.  Baur,  who  considers  the  Roman  presbyter  Caius  the  author.) 

II.  E.  F.  Kimmel  :  De  Hippolyti  vita  et  scriptis.     Jen.  1839.     Mouler  :  L  c. 

p.  584  sqq.  Both  are  confined  to  the  older  confused  sources  of  infor- 
mation. 
Since  the  discovery  of  the  Philosophoumena  several  books  and  tracts  on  Hip- 
polytus have  appeared,  which  present  him  under  a  new  light.  Bunsen  : 
Hippolytus  and  his  Age.  Lond.  1852.  4  vols.  (German  in  2  vols.  Leipz. 
1855) ;  2nd  ed.  with  much  irrelevant  and  heterogeneous  matter  (under 
the  title :  Christianity  and  ^Mankind).  Lond.  1854.  7  vols.  Jacobi  in  the 
"  Deutsche  Zeitschrift,"  Berl.  1851  and  '53  ;  and  Art.  "  Hippolytus"  in 
Herzog's  Encykl.  VI.  131  sqq.   1856.     Baur,  in  the  "  Theol.  Jahrb." 

'  Ffuats  dXri^inu  2  Comp.  §  102. 


§   125.      HIPPOLYTUS.  491 

Tiib.  1853.  Ritschl,  ditto,  1854.  G-ieseler,  in  the  "  Stud.  u.  Krit." 
Hamb.  1853.  Dollinger  (R.  C.)  :  Hippolytus  u.  Callistus,  oder  die  rom. 
Kirohe  in  der  ersten  Halfte  des  dritten  Jahrh.  Regensb.  1853  (apologetic 
for  the  Roman  church).  Wordsworth  :  S.  Hippolytus  and  his  Age. 
Lond.  1853.  W.  E.  Taylor  :  Hippol.  and  the  Christ,  Ch.  of  the  third 
gent.  Lond.  1853.  Lenormant:  Controverse  sur  les  Philos.  d'Orig. 
Par.  1853. 

The  life  and  labors  of  Hippolytus  had  long  been  shrouded  in 
a  mysterious  twilight,  until  a  happy  literary  discovery  in  1851 
shed  clearer  light  upon  them.  Hippolytus  was  undoubtedly  one 
of  the  most  learned  and  eminent  scholars  and  theologians  of  his 
time.  The  Roman  church  placed  him  in  the  number  of  her 
saints  and  martyrs,  little  suspecting  that  he  would  come  forward 
in  the  nineteenth  century  as  an  accuser  against  her.  But  the 
statements  of  the  ancients  respecting  him  are  very  obscure  and 
confused.  Certain  it  is,  that  he  received  a  thorough  Grecian 
education,  and,  as  he  himself  says,  in  a  fragment  preserved  by 
Photius,  heard  the  discourses  of  Irenaeus  in  Lyons.  His  public 
life  falls  in  the  end  of  the  second  century  and  the  first  three 
decennaries  of  the  third  (about  198  to  236),  and  he  belongs  to 
the  western  church,  though  he  may  have  been,  like  Irenaeus,  of 
Oriental  extraction. 

Eusebius  is  the  first  who  mentions  him,  and  he  calls  him,  inde- 
finitely, bishop.  Jerome  gives  a  more  complete  list  of  his  writings, 
but  no  more  definite  information  as  to  his  see.  An  old  catalogue 
of  the  popes,  the  Catalogus  Liberianus  (about  a.d.  354),  calls  him 
only  presbyter.  The  Chronicon  paschale  (about  306),  and  later 
accounts,  make  him  bishop  of  Portus  Romanus,  the  Port  of 
Rome,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber  (now  Porto,  opposite  Ostia).^ 
Perhaps  he  was  both,  at  least  if  we  may  suppose,  with  Bun- 
sen,  that  already  at  that  early  period  the  Roman  suburban  bishops, 
the  cardinales  episcopi,  were  at  the  same  time  members  of  the 
Roman  college  of  presbyters.  But  more  probably  he  was  merely 
a  schismatic  bishop.     Equally  unsatisfactory  are  the  accounts  of 

'  The  opinion  of  Le  Moyne,  Cave,  and  others,  that  this  term  must  lead  us  to  the 
Arabian  Portus  Romanus  (now  Aden),  which  is  nowhere  else  mentioned  as  an  epis- 
copal see,  rests  on  an  entire  misapprehension  of  Euseb.  VI.  50,  where  Hippolytus  is 
accidentally  collocated  with  Beryllus,  bishop  of  Bostra  in  Arabia. 


492  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

his  martyrdom.  The  Liberian  Catalogue  just  mentioned  says  he 
was  banished,  with  the  Eoman  bishop  Pontianus,  about  235,  to 
the  unhealthy  island  of  Sardinia,  and  seems  also  to  fix  his  death 
there.  Yet  he  may  very  possibly  have  returned  to  Kome.  The 
Spanish  poet  Prudentius  (about  400)  places  his  martyrdom  at  all 
events  in  the  neighborhood  of  that  city.  According  to  this  poet- 
ical description,  Hippolytus  belonged  to  the  Novatian  party,^ 
but  in  the  prospect  of  death  regretted  the  schism,  exhorted  his 
numerous  followers  to  return  into  the  bosom  of  the  catholic 
church,  and  then,  in  bitter  allusion  to  his  name  and  to  the  mythi- 
cal Hippolytus,  the  son  of  Theseus,  was  dragged  to  death  by  wild 
horses.  Here,  in  spite  of  the  chronological  error,  there  must  be 
at  least  somewhat  of  fact  at  bottom,  which  very  well  suits  the 
author  of  the  Philosophoumena.  For  he  was  not  in  sympathy 
with  the  Eoman  see,  and  favored  strict  f)rincipleS  in  regard  to 
discipline,  like  Novatian,  who  did  not  appear,  however,  till  some 
ten  years  after  the  death  of  Hippolytus.  Prudentius  also  saw 
his  subterranean  grave-chapel  in  Kome,  where  his  martyrdom 
was  represented. 

In  the  year  1551,  in  this  chapel  on  the  Via  Tiburtina,  near 
the  basilica  of  the  celebrated  Roman  niartyr  Laurentius,  a  much 
mutilated  marble  statue,  now  in  the  Vatican  library,  was  exhumed, 
which  gave  a  new  impulse  to  research  respecting  this  father,  and 
carried  it  a  step  forward.  This  statue  is  not  mentioned  indeed 
by  Prudentius,  and  was  perhaps  originally  designed  for  an  entirely 
different  purpose,  possibly  for  a  Roman  senator  ;  but  it  is  at  all 
events  very  ancient,  perhaps  even  of  the  third  or  fourth  century, 
and  represents  a  venerable  man  clothed  with  the  Greek  pallium 
and  Roman  toga,  seated  in  a  bishop's  chair.  On  the  back  of  the 
cathedra  are  engraved  the  paschal  cycle,  or  easter-table  of  Hip- 
polytus for  seven  scries  of  sixteen  years,  beginning  with  the  first 
year  of  Alexander  Severus  (222),  and  a  list  of  his  writings,  among 
which  is  named  a  work  on  the  All.^ 


■  Prudentius  calls  it  schisma  Novati  instead  of  Novatiani,  as  the  two  names  are 
often  confounded,  especially  in  the  Greek  fathers. 

2  Yltpl  Tov  navToc, 


§   125.      HIPPOLYTUS.  493 

But  mucli  more  important  is  the  recent  discovery  and  publica- 
tion of  one  of  his  works  themselves,  and  that  no  doubt  the  most 
valuable  of  them  all,  viz.  the  Philosophoumena,  or  "  Eefatation 
of  all  heresies."  It  is  now  almost  universally  acknowledged,  that 
this  work  comes  not  from  Origen,  as  the  first  editor  thought,  nor 
from  the  antimontanistic  and  antichiliastic  presbyter  Caius,  but 
from  Hippolytus ;  because,  among  other  reasons,  the  author,  in 
accordance  with  the  Hippolytus  statue,  himself  refers  to  a  work 
"  On  the  All,"  as  his  own,  and  because  Hippolytus  is  declared 
by  the  fathers  to  have  written  a  work  "  Adversus  omnes  haere- 
ses."^  The  entire  matter  of  the  work,  too,  agrees  with  the  scat- 
tered statements  of  antiquity  respecting  his  ecclesiastical  position ; 
and  at  the  same  time  places  that  position  in  a  much  clearer  light, 
and  gives  us  a  better  understanding  of  those  statements. 

The  author  of  the  Philosophoumena  appears  as  one  of  the  most 
prominent  of  the  clergy  in  or  near  Rome  in  the  beginning  of  the 
third  century ;  probably  a  bishop,  since  he  reckons  himself  among 
the  successors  of  the  apostles  and  the  guardians  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  church.  He  took  an  active  part  in  all  the  doctrinal  and 
ritual  controversies  of  his  time,  but  fell  into  ill  savor  with  the 
Roman  bishops  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus  (202-223),  on  account 
of  their  Patripassian  leanings,  and  their  loose  penitential  disci- 
pline. The  latter  especially,  who  had  given  public  offence  by 
his  former  mode  of  life,^  he  attacked  with  earnestness  and  not 
without  passion.  He  was,  therefore,  though  not  exactly  a  schis- 
matical  counter  pope  (as  Dollinger  supposes),  yet  the  head  of  a 
disaffected  party,  orthodox  in  doctrine,  rigoristic  in  discipline, 
and  thus  very  nearly  allied  to  the  Montanists  before  him,  and  to 
the  later  schism  of  Novatian.  It  is  for  this  reason  the  more 
remarkable,  that  we  have  no  account  respecting  the  subsequent 
course  of  this  movement,  except  the  later  unreliable  tradition, 
that  Hippolytus  finally  returned  into  the  bosom  of  the  catholic 

'  On  the  chair  of  the  statue,  it  is  true,  the  Philosophoumena  is  not  mentioned, 
unless  it  be  concealed  under  the  title  Ilpdg  "EXXjjvaf.  But  this  silence  is  easily  ac- 
counted for,  partly  from  the  greater  rarity  of  the  book,  partly  from  its  oflfensive 
opposition  to  two  Roman  popes. 

"  Comp.  §  110. 


494  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

church,  and  expiated  his  schism  by  martyrdom,  either  in  Sardinia, 
or  more  probably  in  Eome  (a.d.  235,  or  rather  236,  under  the 
persecuting  emperor  Maximinus  tlie  Thracian). 

The  Philosophoumena,  at  least  next  to  the  anti -gnostic  work 
of  Irenaeus,  is  the  leading  polemic  theological  production  of  the 
ante-Niceue  church,  and  sheds  much  new  light,  not  only  upon 
the  ancient  heresies,  and  the  development  of  the  church  doctrine, 
but  also  upon  the  history  of  philosophy  and  the  condition  of  the 
Roman  church  in  the  beginning  of  the  third  centur3\  It  further- 
more affords  valuable  testimony  to  the  genuineness  of  the  Gospel 
of  John,  both  from  the  mouth  of  the  author  himself,  and  through 
his  quotations  from  the  much  earlier  Gnostic  Basilides,  who  was 
a  later  contemporary  of  John  (about  A.D.  125).  The  first  of  the 
ten  books  gives  an  outline  of  the  heathen  philosophies ;  hence 
the  title  of  the  work,  which  does  not  answer  to  the  main  body 
of  the  contents.  The  second  and  third  books,  which  are  want- 
ing, treated  probably  of  the  heathen  mysteries,  and  mathematical 
and  astrological  theories.  The  fourth  is  occupied  likewise  with 
the  heathen  astrology  and  magic,  which  must  have  exercised 
great  influence,  particularly  in  Eome.  In  the  fifth  book  the 
author  comes  to  his  proper  theme,  the  refutation  of  all  the  here- 
sies from  the  times  of  the  apostles  to  his  own.  He  takes  up 
thirty-two  in  all,  most  of  which,  however,  are  merely  different 
branches  of  Gnosticism  and  Ebionism.  He  simply  states  the 
heretical  opinion  from  lost  writings,  without  introducing  his  own 
reflection,  and  refers  them  to  the  Greek  philosophy,  mysticism, 
and  magic,  thinking  them  sufficiently  refated  by  being  traced  to 
those  heathen  sources.  The  ninth  book,  in  refuting  the  doctrine 
of  the  Noetians  and  Callistians,  makes  remarkable  disclosures  of 
events  in  the  Roman  church.  The  tenth  book,  made  use  of  by 
Theodoret,  contains  a  brief  recapitulation,  and  the  author's  own 
confession  of  fiiith,  as  a  positive  refutation  of  the  heresies.  The 
composition  falls  some  years  after  the  death  of  Callistus ;  there- 
fore between  the  years  223  and  235. 

Hippolytus  is  rather  a  learned  and  judicious  compiler,  than 
an  original  author.     In  the  philosophical  ]")arts  of  his  work  he 


§   126.      THE  ALEXANDRIAN  SCHOOL.  495 

borrows  largely  from  Sextus  Empiricus,  word  for  word,  without 
acknowledgment ;  and  in  tlie  theological  part  from  Irenaeus.  In 
doctrine  he  agrees,  for  the  most  part,  with  Irenaeus,  even  to  his 
chiliasm,  but  is  not  his  equal  in  discernment,  depth,  and  mode- 
ration. He  repudiates  philosophy,  almost  with  Tertullian's 
vehemence,  as  the  source  of  all  heresies ;  yet  he  employs  it  to 
establish  his  own  views.  On  the  subject  of  the  trinity  he  assails 
Monarchianism,  and  advocates  the  hypostasian  theory  with  a  zeal 
which  brought  down  upon  him  the  charge  of  dytheism.  His 
disciplinary  princij)les,  as  already  observed,  are  rigoristic  and 
ascetic.  In  this  respect  also  he  is  akin  to  Tertullian,  though  he 
places  the  Montanists,  like  the  Quartodecimanians,  but  with  only 
a  brief  notice,  among  the  heretics. 

Several  other  productions,  exegetical,  homiletic,  historical, 
chronological,  apologetic,  and  some  smaller  polemic  works,  all 
in  Greek,  have  been  ascribed  to  Hippolytus ;  but  most  of  them 
are  lost,  and  others  are  extant  only  in  fragments.  In  exegesis 
this  father,  like  his  younger  contemporary,  Origen,  pursued  the 
allegorical  method. 

§  126.     The  Alexandrian  School. 

J.  Gr.  MiCHAELis :  De  scholae  Alexandrinae  prima  origine,  progressu,  ac  prae- 
cipuis  doctoribus.  Hal.  1739.  J.  Matter:  Essai  historique  sur  I'ecole 
d' Alexandrie.  Par.  1820.  2  vols.  Guericke  :  De  schola  quae  olim  Alex, 
floruit,  catechetica.  Hal.  1824.  2  parts.  Hasselbach  :  De  schola  quae 
Alex,  floruit,  catech.  Stett.  1826.  P.  1.  Ritter:  Gesch.  der  christl. 
Philos.  I.  421  sqq. 

In  Alexandria,  the  metropolis  of  Egypt,  the  flourishing  seat 
of  commerce,  of  Grecian  and  Jewish  learning,  and  of  the  greatest 
library  of  the  ancient  world,  there  existed,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, from  the  founding  of  the  church  in  that  city  by  the  evan- 
gelist Mark,  a  catechetical  schooP  under  the  supervision  of  the 
bishop.  It  was  originally  designed  only  for  the  practical  pur- 
pose of  preparing  willing  heathens  and  Jews  of  all  classes  for 

EusebiuS  calls  it  ro  rri^  Karnx'i^^'^S   SiSaaKaXcTov,  and   6i6a(TKa\i:tov    Twi/    Upwv   Xdycjv ', 

Sozomen,  to  kpdv  6i6iaKa\etov  T'^v  hpcjv  jia^niidTuv]  Jerome,  ecclesiastica  schola. 


496  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

baptism.  But  in  that  home  of  the  Philonic  theolog}',  of  Gnostic 
heresy,  and  of  Neo-Platonic  philosophy,  it  soon  very  naturally 
assumed  a  learned  character,  and  became,  at  the  same  time,  a 
sort  of  theological  seminary,  which  exercised  a  powerful  influ- 
ence on  the  education  of  many  bishops  and  church  teachers,  and 
on  the  development  of  Christian  science.  It  had  at  first  but  a 
single  teacher,  afterwards  two  or  more,  but  no  fixed  salar}^,  nor 
special  buildings.  The  teachers  gave  their  instructions  in  their 
dwellings,  generally  after  the  style  of  the  ancient  philosophers. 

The  first  superintendent  of  this  school  known  to  us  was  Pan- 
taenus,  a  converted  Stoic  philosopher,  about  a.d.  180.  He  after- 
wards labored  as  a  missionary  in  India,  and  left  several  com- 
mentaries, of  which,  however,  nothing  remains  but  some  scanty 
fragments.  He  was  followed  by  Clement,  to  A.D.  202 ;  and  Cle- 
ment, by  Origen.,  to  232,  who  raised  the  school  to  the  summit 
of  its  prosperity.  The  institution  was  afterwards  conducted  by 
Origen's  pupils,  Heraclas  (f  248)  and  Dionysius  (f  265),  and 
last  by  the  blind  but  learned  Didymus  (f  395),  until,  at  the  end 
of  the  fourth  century,  it  sank  for  ever  amidst  the  commotions  of 
the  Alexandrian  church. 

From  this  school  proceeded  a  peculiar  theology,  the  most 
learned  and  genial  representatives  of  which  were  Clement  and 
Origen.  This  theology  is,  on  the  one  hand,  a  regenerated  Chris- 
tian form  of  the  Alexandrian  Jewish  religious  philosojjliy  of 
Philo ;  on  the  other,  a  catholic  counterpart,  and  a  positive  refuta- 
tion of  the  heretical  Gnosis,  which  reached  its  height  also  in 
Alexandria,  but  half  a  century  earlier.  The  Alexandrian  theo- 
logy aims  at  a  reconciliation  of  Christianity  with  philosophy,  or, 
subjectively  speaking,  of  pistis  with  tlie  gnosis;  but  it  seeks  this 
union  upon  the  basis  of  the  Bible,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  church. 
Its  centre,  therefore,  is  the  Logos,  viewed  as  the  sum  of  all  rea- 
son and  all  truth,  before  and  after  the  incarnation.  Clement 
came  from  the  Hellenic  philosophy  to  the  Christian  fiiith  ;  Origen, 
conversely,  was  led  by  faith  to  speculation.  The  former  was  an 
aphoristic  thinker,  the  latter  a  systematic.  The  one  borrowed 
ideas  from  various  systems;  the  other  followed  more  the  track 


§   126.      THE  ALEXANDRIAN   SCHOOL.  497 

of  Platonism.  But  both,  are  Christian  philosophers  and  churchly 
gnostics.  As  Philo,  long  before  them,  in  the  same  city,  had 
combined  Judaism  with  Grecian  culture,  so  now  they  carried  the 
Grecian  culture  into  Christianity.  This,  indeed,  the  apologists 
and  controversialists  of  the  second  century  had  already  done,  as 
far  back  as  Justin  the  "  philosopher."  But  the  Alexandrians 
were  more  learned  and  liberal-minded,  and  made  much  freer  use 
of  the  Greek  philosophy.  They  saw  in  it  not  sheer  error,  but  in 
one  view  a  gift  of  God,  and  a  theoretical  schoolmaster  for  Christ, 
like  the  law  in  the  practical  sphere.  Clement  compares  it  to  a 
wild  olive  tree,  which  can  be  ennobled  by  faith  ;  Origen  (in  the 
fragment  of  an  epistle  to  Gregory  Thaumaturgus),  to  the  jewels, 
which  the  Israelites  took  with  them  out  of  Egypt,  and  turned 
into  ornaments  for  their  sanctuary,  though  they  also  wrought 
them  into  the  golden  calf.  It  is  not  necessarily  an  enemy  to  the 
truth,  but  may,  and  should  be  its  handmaid,  and  at  least  neutral- 
ize the  attacks  against  it.  The  elements  of  truth  in  the  heathem 
pliilosophy  they  attributed  partly  to  the  secret  operation  of  the 
Logos  in  the  world  of  reason,  partly  to  acquaintance  with  the 
Jewish  philosophy,  the  writings  of  Moses  and  the  prophets. 

So  with  the  Gnostic  heresy.  The  Alexandrians  did  not  sweep- 
ingly  condemn  it,  but  recognised  the  desire  for  deeper  religious 
knowledge,  which  lay  at  its  root,  and  sought  to  meet  this  desire 
with  a  wholesome  supply  from  the  Bible  itself.  To  the  /vwtfi? 
■l^svS'^vviiog  they  opposed  a  yvuxfig  dXii&iv^.  Their  maxim  was-,  in 
the  words  of  Clement :  "  No  faith  without  knowledge,  no  know- 
ledge without  faith;"  or:  "Unless  you  believe  you  will  not 
understand."^  Faith  and  knowledge  have  the  same  substance,, 
the  saving  truth  of  God,  revealed  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
faitlifully  handed  down  by  the  church ;  they  diifer  only  in  form. 
Knowledge  is  our  consciousness  of  the  deeper  ground  and  con- 
sistency of  faith.  The  Christian  knowledge,  however,  is  also  a 
gift  of  grace,  and  has  its  condition  in  a  holy  life.  The  ideal  of  a 
Christian  gnostic  includes  the  perfect  love,  as  well  as  the  perfect 


'  Is.  viL  9,  according  to  the  LXX.    'Kav  jin  TrtarciariTC,  oHi  nfj  awflTe. 

32 


498  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311, 

knowledge,  of  God.  Clement  describes  him  as  one  "  who,  grow- 
ing grej  in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  preserving  the  ortho- 
doxy of  the  apostles  and  the  church,  lives  strictly  according  to 
the  gospel." 

The  Alexandrian  theology  is  intellectual,  profound,  stirring, 
and  full  of  fruitful  germs  of  thought,  but  rather  unduly  idealistic 
and  spiritualistic,  and,  in  exegesis,  loses  itself  in  arbitrary  alle- 
gorical fancies.  In  its  efforts  to  reconcile  revelation  and  philo- 
sophy it  took  up,  like  Philo,  many  foreign  elements,  especially 
of  the  Platonic  and  Gnostic  stamp,  and  wandered  into  views, 
whicli  a  later  and  more  orthodox,  but  more  narrow-minded  and 
less  productive  age  condemned  as  heresies,  not  appreciating  the 
immortal  service  of  this  school  to  its  own  and  after  times. 


§  127.      Clement  of  Alexandria. 

I.  Clementis  Alex.  Opera  omnia  Gr.  et  Lat.  ed.  Potter  (bishop  of  Oxford). 

Oxon.  1715.  2  vols.  Reprinted  Venet.  1757.  2  vols.  (The  edition  of 
Klotz,  Leipz.  1831-34,  in  4  vols.,  is  very  incorrect.) 

II.  HoFSTEDE  DE  Groot  :   Disscrt.  de  Clem.  Alex.  Groning.  1826.     A.  F. 

Daeiine:  De  ynjTft  Clem.  Al.  Hal.  1831.  F.  R.  Eylert:  Clem.  v.  Alex, 
als  Philosoph  imd  Dichter.  Leipz.  1832.  Bishop  Kate  :  Some  Account 
of  the  Writings  and  Opinions  of  Clement  of  Alex.  Lond.  1835.  Kling: 
Die  Bedeutung  des  Clem.  Alex,  fiir  die  Enstehung  der  Theol.  ("Stud. 
u.  Krit."  for  1841,  No.  4).  Reinkens  :  De  Clem.  Alex,  homine,  scrip- 
tore,  philosopho,  theologo.  Wratisl.  1851.  Laemmer:  Clem.  Al.  de 
Logo  doctrina.     Lips.  1855. 

Titus  Flavins  Clemens^  sprang  either  from  Athens  or  from 
Alexandria,  and  was  brought  up  in  heathenism.  He  was  versed 
in  all  branches  of  Hellenic  literature,  and  in  all  the  existing  sys- 
tems of  philosophy ;  but  in  these  he  found  nothing  to  satisfy  his 
thirst  for  truth.  In  his  adult  years,  therefore,  he  embraced  the 
Christian  religion,  and  by  long  journeys  East  and  West  he 
sought  the  most  distinguished  teachers,  "  who  preserved  the  tra- 
dition of  pure  saving  doctrine,  and  implanted  that  genuine  apos- 


§   127.      CLEMENT   OF   ALEXANDRIA.  499 

tolic  seed  in  tlie  hearts  of  their  pupils."  He  was  captivated  by 
Pantaenus  in  Egypt,  who,  says  he,  "  like  the  Sicilian  bee, 
plucked  flowers  from  the  apostolic  and  prophetic  meadow,  and 
filled  the  souls  of  his  disciples  with  genuine,  pure  knowledge." 
He  became  presbyter  in  the  church  of  Alexandria,  and  about 
A.D.  189  succeeded  Pantaenus  as  president  of  the  catechetical 
school  of  that  city.  Here  he  labored  benignly  some  twelve  years 
for  the  conversion  of  heathens  and  the  education  of  the  Chris- 
tians, until,  as  it  appears,  the  persecution  under  Septimius  Se- 
verus  in  202  compelled  him  to  flee.  After  this  we  find  him  in 
Antioch,  and  last  (211)  with  his  former  pupil,  the  bishop  Alex- 
ander, in  Jerusalem.  Whether  he  returned  thence  to  Alexandria 
is  unknown.  He  died  before  the  year  220,  about  the  same  time 
with  Tertullian.  He  never,  any  more  than  Origen,  was  enrolled 
among  the  saints  of  the  Roman  church,  though  he  frequently 
bore  this  title  of  honor  in  ancient  times. 

Clement  was  the  father  of  the  Alexandrian  Christian  philoso- 
phy. He  united  thorough  biblical  and  Hellenic  learning  with 
genius  and  speculative  thought.  He  rose,  in  many  points,  far 
above  the  prejudices  of  his  age,  to  more  free  and  spiritual  views. 
His  system,  however,  is  not  a  unit,  but  a  confused  eclectic  mix- 
ture of  true  Christian  elements,  with  many  foreign  Stoic,  Platonic, 
and  Philonic  ingredients.  His  writings  are  full  of  repetition,  and 
quite  lacking  in  clear,  fixed  method.  He  throws  out  his  sugges- 
tive and  often  profound  thoughts  in  fragments,  or  purposely 
veils  them,  especially  in  the  Stromata,  in  a  mysterious  darkness, 
to  conceal  them  from  the  exoteric  multitude,  and  to  stimulate 
the  study  of  the  initiated  or  philosophical  Christians.  He  shows 
here  an  affinity  with  the  heathen  mystery  cultus,  and  the  Gnostic 
arcana.  His  extended  knowledge  of  Grecian  literature  and  rich 
quotations  from  the  lost  works  of  poets,  philosophers,  and  his- 
torians, give  him  importance  also  in  investigations  regarding 
classical  antiquity. 

The  three  leading  works  which  he  composed  during  his  resi- 
dence as  teacher  in  Alexandria,  between  the  years  190  and  194, 
represent  the  three  stages  in  the  discipline  of  the  human  race  by 


500  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

the  divine  Logos,  corresponding  to  the  three  degrees  of  kno\r- 
ledge  required  bj  the  ancient  mystagogues,^  and  are  related  to 
one  another  very  much  as  apologetics,  ethics,  and  dogmatics,  or 
as  faith,  love,  and  mystic  vision,  or  as  the  stages  of  the  Christian 
cultus  up  to  the  celebration  of  the  sacramental  mysteries.  The 
"Exhortation  to  the  Greeks,"^  in  three  books,  with  almost  a 
waste  of  learning,  points  out  the  unreasonableness  and  immo 
rality,  but  also  the  nobler  prophetic  element,  of  heathenism,  and 
seeks  to  lead  the  sinner  to  repentance  and  faith.  The  " Tutor" 
or  "Edufcator"^  unfolds  the  Christian  morality  with  constant 
reference  to  heathen  practices,  and  exhorts  to  a  holy  walk,  the 
end  of  which  is  likeness  to  God.  The  "Stromata"  or  "Miscel- 
lanies,"'* in  seven  books  (the  eighth,  containing  an  imperfect 
treatise  on  logic,  is  spurious),  furnishes  a  guide  to  the  deeper 
knowledge  of  Christianity,  but  is  without  any  methodical  ar- 
rangement, a  heterogeneous  mixture  of  curiosities  of  history, 
beauties  of  poetry,  reveries  of  philosophy.  Christian  truths 
and  heretical  errors  (hence  the  name).  He  compares  it  to 
a  thick-grown,  shady  mountain  or  garden,  where  fruitful  and 
barren  trees  of  all  kinds,  the  cypress,  the  laurel,  the  ivy,  the 
apple,  the  olive,  the  fig,  stand  confasedly  grouped  together, 
that  many  may  remain  hidden  from  the  eye  of  the  plunderer 
without  escaping  the  notice  of  the  laborer  who  might  transplant 
and  arrange  them  in  pleasing  order.  It  was,  probably,  only  a 
prelude  to  a  more  comprehensive  theology.  At  the  close  the 
author  portrays  the  ideal  of  the  true  gnostic,  that  is,  the  perfect 
Christian,  assigning  to  him,  among  other  traits,  a  stoical  elevation 
above  all  sensuous  affections. 

Besides  these  principal  works  we  have,  from  Clement  also,  an 
able  ascetic  and  yet  liberal  treatise,  on  the  right  use  of  wealth."^ 

'  Tho  amKa^apmi,  tllO  ^v/jcrij,  and  tho  inonretn. 
'  Aiiyot  TrpoTpenriKUi,  Coliortatio. 
3  IlairJaywydj. 

*  Erpoj/iartTj,  Stromata,  or  pieces  of  tapestry,  which,  when  curiously  woren,  and'in 
divers  colors,  present  an  apt  picture  of  such  miscellaneous  composition. 

5  Ti{  0  ao>^6fievt}f  rtUvrrtrx,  quip  divcs  salvus,  or  salvctur?  an  excellent  commentary  on 
the  words  of  the  Lord  in  Mk.  x.  17  sqq.     Comp.  §  95. 


§  128.     ORIGEX.  501 

His  exegetical  works,^  as  well  as  a  controversial  treatise  on 
prophecy,  against  the  Montanists,  and  another  on  the  passover, 
against  the  Judaizing  practice  in  Asia  Minor,  are  all  lost,  except 
some  inconsiderable  fragments. 

To  Clement  we  owe  also  the  oldest  Christian  hymn  that  has 
come  down  to  us ;  an  elevated  but  somewhat  turgid  song  of 
praise  to  the  Logos,  as  the  divine  educator  and  leader  of  the 
human  race.^ 


§  128.     Origen. 

L  Origenis  Opera  omnia  Gr.  et  Lat.  ed.  Car.  et  Car.  Vino,  de  la  Rue 
(Congr.  S.  Mauri),  Par.  1740-59,  4  vols.  fol. ;  new  ed.  1857,  in  8  vols. ; 
small  ed.  by  Lommatsch,  Berol.  1831-48.  25  vols.  8vo.  Comp.  Eubeb. 
H.  E.  VI.  1-6  et  passim.  Hieron.  :  Cat.  c.  54  and  Ep.  29,  41.  Gre- 
GORius  TnAUMAT. :  Oratio  panegyrica  in  Origeuem.  Pamphilus  :  Apo- 
logia Orig.  (all  in  the  last  vol.  of  De  la  Rue). 

II.  P.  D.  HuETius :  Origeniana,  Par.  1679,  2  vols,  (also  in  De  la  Rue,  voL  4). 
G-.  Thomasius:  Origines,  Niirnb.  1837.  R.  Redepenning:  Origines. 
Sein  Leben  u.  seine  Lelire.  Bonn,  1841,  2  vols. 

Origen,  surnamed  Adamantius,^  for  his  iron  industry  and 
perhaps  also  his  pure  and  firm  character,  was  born  of  Christian 
parents  at  Alexandria,  in  the  year  185,  and  baptized  in  child- 
hood. Under  the  direction  of  his  father,  Leonides,  who  was 
probably  a  rhetorician,  and  of  the  celebrated  Clement  at  the 
catechetical  school,  he  received  a  pious  and  learned  education. 
While  yet  a  boy,  he  knew  whole  sections  of  the  Bible  by 
memory,  and  not  rarely  perplexed  his  father  with  questions  on 
the  deeper  sense  of  Scripture.  The  father  reproved  his  curiosity, 
but  thanked  God  for  such  a  son,  and  often,  as  he  slept,  reveren- 
tially kissed  his  breast  as  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     Under 

I  'YfforvTTwrrtif,  Adumbrationes,  Outlines,  or  a  condensed  survey  of  the  contents 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Scriptures. 

2 In  the  Paedag.  III.  12  (p.  311  ed.  Pott.;  also  in  Daniel's  Thesaurus  hymnolo- 
gicus  III.  p.  5).  It  has  been  often  translated  into  German,  by  Miinter  (in  Rambach's 
Anthologie  christl.  Gosange  I.  p.  35) ;  Dorner  (Christologie  I.  293) ;  Fortlage 
(Gesauge  christl.  Yorzeit.  1844,  p.  38) ;  and  in  rhyme  by  Hagenbach  (Die  K.  G.  der 
3  crsten  Jahrb.  p.  222  sq.).  An  English  translation  may  be  found  in  the  anony- 
mous book:  Tlie  Voice  of  Clu-istian  Life  in  Song.     N.  Tork,  1858,  p.  44  sq. 

^ 'AJa/zii/TDj,  Xa>k£iT£oos. 


502  SECOND   PERIOD.    A.D.    100-311. 

the  persecution  of  Septimius  Severus  in  202,  he  wrote  to  his 
father  in  prison,  beseeching  him  not  to  deny  Christ  for  the  sake 
of  his  family,  and  strongly  desired  to  give  himself  up  to  the 
heathen  authorities,  but  was  prevented  by  his  mother,  who  hid 
his  clothes.  Leonides  died  a  martyr,  and,  as  his  property  was 
confiscated,  he  left  a  helpless  widow  with  seven  children.  Origen 
was  for  a  time  assisted  by  a  wealthy  matron,  and  then  supported 
himself  by  giving  instruction  in  the  Greek  language  and  litera- 
ture, and  by  copying  manuscripts. 

In  the  year  203,  though  then  only  eighteen  years  of  age, 
he  was  nominated  by  the  bishop  Demetrius,  afterwards  his 
opponent,  president  of  the  catechetical  school  of  Alexandria,  left 
vacant  by  the  flight  of  Clement.  To  fill  this  important  office, 
he  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  various  heresies,  especially 
the  Gnostic,  and  with  the  Grecian  philosophy ;  he  was  not  even 
ashamed  to  study  under  the  heathen  Ammonius  Saccas,  the 
celebrated  founder  of  Neo-Platonism.  He  learned  also  the 
Hebrew  language,  and  made  journeys  to  Eome  (211),  Arabia, 
Palestine  (215),  and  Greece.  After  a  time  he  gave  the  lower 
classes  into  the  charge  of  his  pupil  Heraclas,  and  devoted  him- 
self wholly  to  the  more  advanced  students.  He  was  successful 
in  bringing  many  eminent  heathens  and  heretics  to  the  catholic 
church  ;  among  them  a  wealthy  Gnostic,  Ambrosius,  who 
became  his  most  liberal  patron,  furnishing  him  a  costly  library 
for  his  biblical  studies,  seven  stenographers,  and  a  number  of 
copyists  (some  of  whom  were  young  Christian  women),  the 
former  to  note  down  his  dictations,  the  latter  to  engross  them. 
His  fame  spread  far  and  wide  over  Egypt.  Julia  Mammaea, 
mother  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  Severus,  brought  him  to 
Antioch  in  218,  to  learn  from  liim  the  doctrines  of  Christianity. 
An  Arabian  prince  honored  him  with  a  visit  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. 

His  mode  of  life  during  the  whole  period  was  strictlj*  ascetic. 
He  made  it  a  matter  of  principle  to  renounce  every  earthly  thing 
not  indispcnsaV)ly  necessary.  He  refused  the  gifte  of  his  pupils, 
and  in  literal  obedience  to  the  Saviour's  injunction  he  had  but 


§   128.      ORIGEN.  503 

one  coat,  no  slioes,  and  took  no  thought  of  the  morrow.  He 
rarely  ate  flesh,  never  drank  wine ;  devoted  the  greater  part  of 
the  night  to  prayer  and  study,  and  slept  on  the  bare  floor.  Nay, 
in  his  youthful  zeal  for  ascetic  holiness,  he  even  committed  the 
act  of  self-emasculation,  partly  to  fulfil  literally  the  mysterious 
words  of  Christ,  in  Matt.  xix.  12,  for  the  sake  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  partly  to  secure  himself  against  all  temptation  and  calumny, 
which  might  arise  from  his  intercourse  with  many  female  cate- 
chu meng,^  By  this  inconsiderate  and  misdirected  heroism,  which 
he  himself  repented  in  his  riper  years,  he  incapacitated  himself, 
according  to  the  canons  of  the  church,  for  the  clerical  office. 
Nevertheless,  a  long  time  afterwards,  in  228,  he  was  ordained 
presbyter  by  two  friendly  bishops,  Alexander  of  Jerusalem,  and 
Theoctistus  of  Caesarea  in  Palestine,  who  had,  even  before  this, 
on  a  former  visit  of  his,  invited  him  while  a  layman,  to  teach 
publicly  in  their  churches  and  to  expound  the  Scriptures  to  their 
people. 

But  this  foreign  ordination  itself,  and  the  growing  reputation 
of  Origen  among  heathens  and  Christians,  stirred  the  jealousy 
of  the  bishop  Demetrius  of  Alexandria,  who  charged  him  be- 
sides, and  that  not  wholly  without  foundation,  with  corrupting 
Christianity  by  foreign  speculations.  This  bishop  held  two 
councils,  A.D.  231  and  232,  against  the  great  theologian,  and 
enacted,  that  he,  for  his  false  doctrine,  his  self-mutilation,  and 
his  violation  of  the  church  laws,  be  deposed  from  his  ofiices  of 
presbyter  and  catechist,  and  excommunicated.  This  unright- 
eous sentence,  in  which  envy,  hierarchical  arrogance,  and  zeal 
for  orthodoxy  joined,  was  communicated,  as  the  custom  was,  to 
other  churches.  The  Eoman  church,  always  ready  to  anathema- 
tize, concurred  without  further  investigation,  while  the  churches 
of  Palestine,  Arabia,  Phenicia,  and  Achaia,  which  were  better 
informed,  decidedly  disapproved  it. 

In  this  controversy  Origen  showed  a  genuine  Christian  meek- 

'  This  fact  rests  on  the  testimony  of  Eusebius  (vi.  8),  who  was  very  well  informed 
respecting  Origen ;  and  it  has  been  defended  by  Engelhardt,  Redepenning,  and 
Neander,  against  the  unfounded  doubts  of  Baur  and  Schnitzer. 


604  SECOXD  PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

.ness.  "TTe  must  jjity  tliem,"  said  he  of  his  enemies,  "rather 
than  hate  them ;  j^ray  for  them,  rather  than  curse  them  ;  for  we 
are  made  for  blessing,  and  not  for  cursing."  He  betook  himself 
to  his  friend,  the  bishop  of  Caesarea  in  Palestine,  prosecuted  his 
studies  there.  ojDened  a  new  philosopliical  and  theological  school, 
which  soon  outshone  that  of  Alexandria,  and  labored  for  the 
spread  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  persecution  under  Maximi- 
nus  (235)  drove  him  for  a  time  to  Cappadocia.  Thence  he  went 
to  Grreece,  and  then  back  to  Palestine.  He  was  called  into  con- 
sultation in  various  ecclesiastical  disputes,  and  had  an  extensive 
correspondence,  in  which  were  included  even  the  emperor  Phi- 
lip the  Arabian  and  his  wife.  Though  thrust  out  as  a  heretic 
from  his  home,  he  reclaimed  the  erring  in  foreign  lands  to  the 
faith  of  the  church.  At  an  Arabian  council,  for  example,  he 
convinced  the  bishop  Beryllus  of  his  christological  error,  and 
persuaded  him  to  retract  (a.d.  214). 

At  last  he  received  an  honorable  invitation  to  return  to  Alex- 
andria, where,  meantime,  his  pupil  Dionysius  had  become  bishop. 
But  in  the  Decian  persecution  he  was  cast  into  prison,  cruelly 
tortured,  and  condemned  to  the  stake ;  and  though  he  regained 
his  liberty  by  the  death  of  the  emperor,  yet  he  died  some  time 
after,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine,  in  the  year  253  or  254,  at  Tyre, 
probably  in  consequence  of  that  violence.  He  belongs,  therefore, 
at  least  among  the  confessors,  if  not  among  the  martyrs. 

It  is  impossible  to  deny  a  respectful  sympathy  to  this  extra- 
ordinary man,  who,  with  all  his  brilliant  talents  and  a  host 
of  enthusiastic  friends  and  admirers,  was  driven  from  his  coun- 
try, stripped  of  his  sacred  office,  excommunicated  from  a  part 
of  the  church,  then  thrown  into  a  dungeon,  loaded  with  chains, 
racked  by  torture,  doomed  to  drag  his  aged  frame  and  dislocated 
limbs  in  pain  and  poverty,  and  long  after  his  death  to  have  liis 
memory  branded  his  name  anathematized,  and  his  salvation 
denied;  but  who  nevertheless  did  more  than  all  his  enemies 
combined  to  advance  the  cause  of  sacred  learning,  to  refute  and 
convert  heathens  and  heretics,  and  to  make  the  church  respected 
in  the  e3'e3  of  the  world. 


§  128.    ORiGE^.  505 

Origen  was  the  greatest  scholar  of  liis  age,  and  the  most 
learned  and  genial  of  all  the  ante-Nicene  fathers.  Even  hea- 
thens and  heretics  admired  or  feared  his  brilliant  talents.  His 
knowledge  embraced  all  departments  of  the  philology,  philoso- 
phy, and  theology  of  his  day.  With  this  he  united  profound 
and  fertile  thought,  keen  penetration,  and  glowing  imagination. 
As  a  true  divine,  he  consecrated  all  his  studies  by  prayer,  and 
turned  them,  according  to  his  best  convictions,  to  the  service  of 
truth  and  piety. 

He  may  be  called  in  many  respects  the  Schleiermacher  of  the 
Greek  church.  He  was  a  guide  from  the  heathen  philosophy 
and  the  heretical  Grnosis  to  the  Christian  faith.  He  exerted  an 
immeasurable  influence  in  stimulating  the  development  of  the 
catholic  theology  and  forming  the  great  Nicene  fathers,  Atha- 
nasius,  Basil,  the  two  Gregories,  Hilary,  and  Ambrose,  who 
consequently,  in  spite  of  all  his  deviations,  set  great  value  on 
his  services.  But  his  best  disciples  proved  unfaithful  to  many 
of  his  most  peculiar  views,  and  adhered  far  more  to  the  reigning 
faith  of  the  church.  For — and  in  this  too  he  is  like  Schleierma- 
cher— he  can  by  no  means  be  called  orthodox,  either  in  the 
Catholic  or  in  the  Protestant  sense.  His  leaning  to  idealism, 
his  predilection  for  Plato,  and  his  noble  effort  to  reconcile 
Christianity  with  reason,  and  to  commend  it  even  to  educated 
heathens  and  Gnostics,  led  him  into  many  grand  and  fascinating 
errors.  Among  these  are  his  extremely  ascetic  and  almost  doce- 
tistic  conception  of  corporeity,  his  doctrine  of  the  pre-existence 
and  the  pre-temporal  fall  of  souls,  of  eternal  creation,  of  the 
extension  of  the  work  of  redemption  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
stars  and  to  all  creatures,  and  of  the  final  restoration  of  all 
men  and  angels,  including  Satan  himself.  Also  in  regard  to  the 
dogma  of  the  divinity  of  Christ,  though  he  powerfully  supported 
it,  and  was  the  first  to  teach  expressly  the  eternal  generation  of 
the  Son,  yet  he  may  be  almost  as  justly  considered  a  forerunner 
of  the  Arian  heterousion,  or  at  least  of  the  semi-Arian  homoi- 
ousion,  as  of  the  Athanasian  homoousian. 

These  and  similar  views  provoked  more  or  less  contradiction 


506  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.    ]  00-311. 

during  his  lifetime,  and  were  afterwards,  at  a  local  council  in 
Constantinople  in  544,^  even  solemnly  condemned  as  heretical. 
But  such  a  man  might  in  such  an  age  hold  heretical  opinions 
without  being  a  heretic.  For  Origen  propounded  his  views 
always  with  modesty  and  from  sincere  conviction  of  their  agree- 
ment with  Scripture,  and  that  in  a  time  when  the  church  doc- 
trine was  as  yet  very  indefinite  in  many  points.  For  this  reason 
even  unprejudiced  Roman  divines,  such  as  Tillemont  and  Moh- 
ler,  have  shown  Origen  the  greatest  respect  and  leniency  ;  a  fact 
the  more  to  be  commended,  since  the  Roman  church  has  refused 
him,  as  well  as  Clement  of  Alexandria  and  Tertullian,  a  place 
among  the  saints  and  the  fathers  in  the  stricter  sense. 

Origen's  greatest  service  was  in  exegesis.  He  is  father  of  the 
scientific  and  critical  investigation  of  Scripture,  though  his  doc- 
trine of  a  threefold  sense  is  untenable,  and  his  allegorical  expo- 
sition often  degenerates  into  the  merest  caprice,^  or  gives  way  at 
times  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  a  carnal  literalism,  by  which 
he  justifies  his  ascetic  extravagance.  Gregory  Thaumaturgus 
says,  he  had  "  received  from  God  the  greatest  gift,  to  be  an 
interpreter  of  the  word  of  God  to  men."  For  that  age  this 
judgment'  is  perfectly  just.  Origen  remained  the  exegetical 
oracle  until  Chrysostom  far  surpassed  him,  not  indeed  in  vigor 
of  mind  and  extent  of  learning,  but  in  sound,  sober  tact,  in  sim- 
ple grammatical  and  historical  analysis,  and  in  practical  appli- 
cation of  the  text. 

Origen  was  an  uncommonly  prolific  author,  but  by  no  means 
an  idle  bookmaker.  Jerome  says,  he  wrote  more  than  other 
men  can  read.  Epiphanius,  an  opponent,  states  the  number  of 
his  works  as  six  thousand,  which  is  perhaps  not  much  be3-ond 
the  mark,  if  we  include  all  his  short  tracts,  homilies,  and  letters, 
and  count  them  as  separate  volumes.  Many  of  them  arose 
without  his  cooperation,  and  sometimes  against  his  will,  from 
the  writing  down  of  his  oral  lectures  by  others.     Of  his  books 

•  Not  at  the  fiflli  ecumenical  council  of  553,  as  has  been  o.lcn,  through  confusion, 
asserted. 

'  Comp.  §  75. 


§  128.     ORIGEN.  507 

wMcli  remain,  some  have  come  down  to  us  only  in  Latin  trans- 
lations, and  with  many  alterations  in  favor  of  the  later  ortho- 
doxy.    They  extend  to  all  branches  of  the  theology  of  that  day. 

1.  His  biblical  works  were  the  most  numerous,  and  may  be 
divided  into  critical,  exegetical,  and  hortatory. 

Among  the  critical  were  the  Hexapla^  and  the  shorter  Te- 
trapla,  on  which  he  spent  eight-and-twenty  years  of  the  most 
unwearied  labor.  The  Hexapla  was  the  first  polyglott  bible, 
but  covered  only  the  Old  Testament,  and  was  designed  not  for 
the  critical  restoration  of  the  original  text,  but  merely  for  the 
improvement  of  the  received  Septuagint,  and  the  defence  of  it 
against  the  charge  of  inaccuracy.  It  contained,  in  six  columns, 
the  orig-inal  text  in  two  forms,  in  Hebrew  and  in  Greek  charac- 
ters,  and  the  four  Greek  versions  of  the  Septuagint,  of  Aquila, 
of  Symmachu.s,  and  of  Theodotion.  To  these  he  added,  in  seve- 
ral books,  two  or  three  other  anonymous  versions,'-*  The  de- 
partures from  the  standard  he  marked  with  the  critical  signs 
asterisk  (if;)  and  obelos  ('-^),  The  voluminous  work  was  placed 
in  the  library  at  Caesarea,  was  still  much  used  in  the  time  of 
Jerome,  but  doubtless  never  transcribed,  except  in  certain  por- 
tions, most  frequently  the  Septuagint  columns  (which  were 
copied,  for  instance,  by  Pamphilus  and  Eusebius),  and  was  pro- 
bably destroyed  by  the  Saracens  in  653.  We  possess,  therefore, 
only  some  fragments  of  it,  the  most  complete  collection  of  which 
is  that  of  Montfaucon,  in  two  volumes,  published  in  1714. 
.  His  commentaries  covered  almost  all  the  books  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  and  contained  a  vast  wealth  of  profound 
suggestions,  with  the  most  arbitrary  allegorical  and  mystic  fan- 
cies. They  were  of  three  kinds  : — (a)  Short  notes  on  single  dif- 
ficult passages  for  beginners  f  all  these  are  lost,  (b)  Extended 
expositions  of  whole  books,  for  higher  scientific  study  •*  of  these 


'  Hence  also  the  name  t«  oKmnXa,  Octapla  (but  never  Enneapla),  when  the  quinta, 
sexta,  and  septima  are  included.  The  Tetrapla  contains  only  the  four  Greek  ver- 
sions mentioned,  without  the  original  Hebrew. 

'  Tirj/jicttjjdiis,  scholia.  *  TSjxoi,  commentariL 


508  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

we  have  a  number  in  the  original,  (c)  lEortatorj  or  practical 
applicatiorns  of  Scripture  for  the  congregation  ;^  which  are  im- 
portant also  to  the  history  of  pulpit  oratory.  But  we  have 
them  only  in  part,  as  translated  by  Jerome  and  Rufinus,  with 
many  unscrupulous  retrenchments  and  additions,  which  perplex 
and  are  apt  to  mislead  investigators. 

2.  Apologetic  and  polemic  works.  The  refatation  of  Celsus 
against  Christianity,^  in  eight  books,  written  in  the  last  years  of 
his  life,  about  249,  is  preserved  complete  in  the  original,  and 
is  one  of  the  ripest  and  most  valuable  productions  of  Origen, 
and  of  the  whole  ancient  apologetic  literature.  His  numerous 
polemic  writings  against  heretics  are  all  gone. 

3.  Of  his  dogmatic  writings  we  have,  though  only  in  the 
inaccurate  Latin  translation  of  Rufinus,^  his  juvenile  production, 
De  principiis,*  on  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Christian 
faith,  in  four  books.  This  was  the  first  attempt  at  a  complete 
dogmatic,  but  full  of  the  author's  peculiar  Platonizing  and  Gnos- 
ticizing  errors,  some  of  which  he  retracted  in  his  riper  years. 
In  this  work  Origen  treats,  first,  of  God ;  in  the  second  book  of 
creation  and  the  incarnation ;  in  the  third  of  freedom,  which  he 
very  strongly  sets  forth  and  defends  against  the  Gnostics ;  in 
the  fourth,  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  their  inspiration  and  author- 
ity, and  the  interpretation  of  them ;  concluding  with  a  recapi- 
tulation of  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity. 

4.  Among  his  practical  works  may  be  mentioned  a  treatise  on 
prayer,  with  an  exposition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  exhortation 
to  martyrdom,  written  during  the  persecution  of  Maximin. 

6.  Of  his  letters,  of  which  Busebius  collected  over  eight  hun- 
dred, we  have,  besides  a  few  fragments,  only  an  answer  to  Ju- 
lius Africanus  on  the  authenticity  of  the  history  of  Susanna. 

Among  the  works  of  Origen  is  also  usually  inserted  the  "  Phi- 

« 'OixMai.  '  Comp.  §  60. 

3  He  himself  confesses  that  he  altered  or  omitted  several  pap;es,  pretending  that 
it  had  been  more  corrapted  by  heretics  than  any  other  wo.!-  of  Origen.  Tillemont 
well  remarks  that  Rufinus  miglit  have  spared  himself  the  trouble  of  alteration,  as 
we  care  much  less  about  his  views  than  those  of  the  original 


§  129.   OTHER  GREEK  THEOLOGIANS.         509 

localia,"  or  a  collection  of  extracts  from  his  writings  on  various 
exegetical  questions,  made  by  Gregory  Nazianzen  and  Basil  the 
Great. 


§  129.  The  other  Greek  Theologians  of  the  Third  Century. 

1.  Disciples  of  Origen,  Most  of  the  Greek  fathers  of  the  third 
and  fourth  centuries  stood  more  or  less  under  the  influence  of 
the  spirit  and  the  works  of  this  great  divine,  without  adopting 
all  his  peculiar  speculative  views. 

Heraclas  of  Alexandria  was  first  a  pupil  of  Origen,  then  his 
assistant  and  successor  in  the  catechetical  school,  and  after  233 
bishop  of  Alexandria.  He  died  in  248.  He  also  studied  the 
Neo-Platonic  philosophy  under  Anunonius  Saccas. 

DiONYSius  of  Alexandria,  surnamed  "the  Great,"  originally 
a  heathen  rhetorician,  was  won  to  the  faith  by  Origen,  became 
catechist  in  the  year  233,  and  bishop  of  Alexandria  in  248,  and 
died  in  265.  He  labored  zealously  for  the  conversion  of  here- 
tics, and  to  aid  himself  studied  their  writings.  He  took  active 
part  in  the  christological,  chiliastic,  and  disciplinary  controver- 
sies of  his  time,  showing  in  them  little  independence  and  consis- 
tency, but  moderation,  an  amiable  spirit  of  concession,  and  prac- 
tical churchly  tact.  Of  his  numerous  writings  Eusebius  and 
Athanasius  have  preserved  valuable  fragments. 

His  successors  in  the  catechetical  school,  Pierius  (called  "  the 
younger  Origen)"  and  Theognostus  (after  282  ?),  stood  likewise 
in  high  repute  in  their  day  as  scholars  and  authors. 

Gregory,  surnamed  Thaumaturgus,  "the  wonder-worker," 
was  converted  from  heathenism  in  his  youth  by  Origen  at  Caesa- 
rea,  spent  eight  years  in  his  society,  and  then,  after  a  season  of 
contemplative  retreat,  labored'  as  bishop  of  Neo-Caesarea  in 
Pontus  from  244  to  270  with  extraordinary  success.  He  could 
boast  on  his  death-bed,  that  he  had  left  to  his  successor  no  more 
unbelievers  in  his  diocese,  than  he  had  found  Christians  in  it  at 
his  accession ;  and  those  were  only  seventeen.  Later  story  has 
made  him  a  "second  Moses,"  and  attributed  great  miracles  to 


510  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

him.  But  these  are  not  mentioned  till  a  century  after  his  time, 
by  Gregory  of  Nyssa  and  Basil.  Eusebius  knows  nothing  of 
them,  nor  of  the  trinitarian  creed,  which  is  said  to  have  been 
communicated  to  him  in  a  vision  by  St.  John  at  the  request  of 
the  Virgin  Mary.  We  have  from  him  a  glowing  eulogy  on  his 
beloved  teacher  Origen,  which  ranks  as  a  masterpiece  of  Grecian 
eloquence ;  also  a  simple  paraphrase  of  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes. 

Pampiiilus,  a  presbyter  of  Caesarea  in  Palestine  and  teacher 
in  the  theological  school  founded  by  him  there,  who  died  a 
martyr  in  309,  did  great  service  with  his  careful  transcript  of  the 
Septuagint  from  the  Hexapla  of  Origen,  his  gratuitous  distribu- 
tion of  the  Bible,  and  the  collection  of  a  large  theological,  library, 
whence  Eusebius,  Jerome,  and  many  others  drew  or  increased 
their  learning.  He  wrote  in  prison  a  defence  of  Origen,  which 
his  disciple  and  intimate  friend  Eusebius  completed.  But  we 
have  only  the  first  of  its  six  books. 

HiERACAS  (Hierax),  from  Leontopolis  in  Egypt,  towards  the 
end  of  the  third  century,  belongs  only  in  the  wider  sense  to  the 
school  of  Origen,  and  perhaps  had  no  connexion  with  it  at  all. 
Epiphanius  reckons  him  among  the  Manichaean  heretics.  lie 
was,  at  all  events,  a  perfectly  original  phenomenon,  distinguished 
for  his  varied  learning,  allegorical  exegesis,  poetical  talent,  and 
still  more  for  his  eccentric  asceticism.  He  is  said  to  have  denied 
the  historical  reality  of  the  fall  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body, 
and  to  have  declared  celibacy  the  only  sure  way  to  salvation. 

2.  Kindred  theologians. 

Julius  Africanus,  an  older  friend  of  Origen,  who  probably 
sprang  from  Asia  Minor,  but  labored  in  Palestine,  and  died  in 
232,  deserves  honorable  mention  as  the  first  Christian  chrono- 
grapher  and  the  forerunner  of  Eusebius,  who  has  made  copious 
use  of  his  learned  labor.  The  fragments  of  his  chronography  in 
five  books,  which  commenced  with  the  creation  and  came  down 
to  the  year  221,  are  collected  by  Gallandi  and  Kouth. 

The  Antiochan  presbyters  Dorotheus  (f  about  290)  and 
LuciAN  (t  a  martyr  in  811)  may  have  received  their  first  scienti- 
fic impulse  from  the  works  of  Origen,  but  founded  a  new  thcolo- 


§   130.      TERTULLIAN  AND  THE   AFRICAN   SCHOOL.  511 

gical  school  at  Antiocb,  wliich  afterwards  became  the  seat  of  an 
independent,  literal,  grammatico-historical  treatment  of  scrip- 
ture, and  formed  a  beneficial  offset  to  the  unlimited  allegorizing 
of  the  Alexandrians.  This  school  produced  Chrysostom  and 
Theodoret ;  but  from  the  same  school  proceeded  also  Arius  and 
Nestorius.  Lucian  prepared  a  careful  critical  edition  of  the 
Septuagint,  and  perhaps  also  of  the  New  Testament. — By  a 
similar  labor  the  Egyptian  bishop  Hesychius  made  himself 
known  in  the  same  period. 

8.  Opponents  of  Origen. 

The  opposition  of  Demetrius  proceeded  chiefly  from  personal 
feeling,  and  had  no  theological  significance.  Yet  it  made  a 
pretext  at  least  of  zeal  for  orthodoxy,  and  in  subsequent  oppo- 
nents this  motive  took  the  principal  place.  This  was  the  case,  so 
early  as  the  third  century,  with 

Methodius,  bishop  of  Tyre,  who  died  a  martyr  in  811,  or 
earlier.  He  was  not  speculative  enough  to  appreciate  the  system 
of  Origen,  and  was  not  always  consistent,  it  would  seem,  in  his 
opposition  to  it.  But  he  exposed  its  errors  in  the  doctrine  of 
the  creation  and  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  w^th  considera- 
ble learning  and  discernment.  He  also  wrote  an  eloquent,  but 
verbose,  extravagant,  and  somewhat  indelicate  eulogy  on  the  ad- 
vantages of  virginity,  in  the  Platonic  dialogue  form.^  We  have 
fragments  of  this  "  Banquet  of  Virgins"  in  Epiphanius  and  Pho- 
tius.  Eusebius,  probably  from  party  prejudice,  which  ill  be- 
comes a  historian,  passes  over  him  in  silence. 

§  130.   Tertullian  and  the  African  School. 

I.  Tertulliani  quae  supersunt  omnia.     Ed.  Franc.  Oehlkr.     Lips.  1853,  3 

vols.  Earlier  editions  by  Beatus  Bhenanus,  Bas.  1521 ;  Pamelius,  Ant- 
werp, 1579 ;  Rigaltius  (Rigault),  Par.  1634  and  Venet.  1744 ;  Semkr, 
Halle,  1770-73.  6  vols. ;  Oberthur,  1780 ;  Leojyold,  in  Gersdorf 's  Bib- 
lioth.  patrum  eccles.  Latinorum  selecta  (IV- VII..),  Lips.  1839-4]  ;  and 
Migne,  Par.  1844.  Tert.'s  Apology  has  often  been  separately  edited  and 
translated  into  modern  languages. 

II.  Neander:  Antignosticus,  Geist  des  Tertullianus  u.  Einleitung  in  dessen 

*  Sv/iirdo-ioK  roiv  ftixa  irap^ifioi/]  Convivium  decem  virginum. 


512  SECOND   PEHIOD.    A.i).    lUU-oll. 

Schriften.  Berl.  1825,  2d  ed.  1849.  Hesselbero  :  TertuUian.  Dorpat, 
1848.  2  pts.  J.  Kaye  :  Eccles.  Hist,  of  the  second  and  third  Centuries, 
illustrated  from  the  Writings  of  TertuUian.  3d  ed.  Lond.  1845.  A  num- 
ber of  special  treatises  by  Hefele,  Engelhardt,  Leopold,  Uhlhorn,  &c. 
Comp.  also  the  works  on  Montanism,  §  97. 

The  Western  churcli  in  this  period  exhibits  no  such  scientific 
productiveness  as  the  Eastern.  If  we  leave  out  of  view  Clement 
of  Rome,  Hermas,  and  Irenaeus,  who  belong  by  education  to  the 
Greek  church  and  wrote  only  in  Greek,  her  literary  career  does 
not  begin  till  the  end  of  the  second  century,  and  then,  very  cha- 
racteristically, not  with  a  converted  philosoj^hcr,  but  with  two 
vigorous  practical  lawyers  and  rhetoricians.  It  does  not  gradu- 
ally unfold  itself,  but  appears  at  once  under  a  fixed,  clear  stamp, 
with  a  strong  realistic  tendency. 

Quintus  Septimius  Florens  Tertullianus  is  the  father  of  the 
Latin  theology  and  church  language,  and  one  of  the  greatest 
men  of  Christian  antiquity.  He  was  bom  about  the  year  160, 
at  Carthage,  the  ancient  rival  of  Eomc,  where  his  father  was 
serving  as  captain  of  a  Roman  legion  under  the  proconsul  of 
Africa.  He  received  a  liberal  Graeco-Roman  secular  education ; 
his  writings  manifest  an  extensive  acquaintance  with  historical, 
philosophical,  polite,  and  antiquarian  literature,  and  with  juridi- 
cal terminology  and  all  the  arts  of  an  advocate.  He  seems  to 
have  devoted  himself  to  politics  and  forensic  eloquence,  either 
in  Carthage  or  in  Rome.  Eusebius  calls  him  "a  man  accurately 
acquainted  with  the  Roman  laws,"^  and  many  regard  him  as 
identical  with  the  Tertyllus,  or  Tertullianus,  who  is  the  author 
of  several  fragments  in  the  Pandects. 

To  Ills  thirtieth  or  fortieth  year  he  lived  in  heathen  blindness 
and  licentiousness.^  Towards  the  end  of  the  second  century  he 
embraced  Christianity,  we  know  not  exactly  on  what  occasion, 
but  evidently  from  deepest  conviction,  and  with  all  the  fiery 
energy  of  his  soul ;  defended  it  thenceforth  with  fearless  decision 

'  H.  E.  II.  2. 

'  De  resurr.  cam.  c.  59,  he  confesses:  Ego  me  scio  neque  Ju!a  came  adulteria  com 
misisse,  neque  nunc  alia  came  ad  contincntiam  eniti.  Comp.  also  Apolog.  c.  18  and 
25.     De  anima,  c.  2.     Do  poeuit.  c.  4  and  12.     Ad  Scapul.  c.  5. 


§   130.      TERTULLIAN  AND   THE  AFRICAN  SCHOOL,  513 

against  heathens,  Jews,  and  heretics;  and  studied  the  strictest 
morahtj  of  hfe.  His  own  words  may  be  applied  to  himself: 
"  Fiant,  non  nascuntur  Christiani."  He  was  married,  and  gives 
us  a  glowing  picture  of  Christian  family  life,  to  which  we  have 
before  referred ;  but  in  his  zeal  for  every  form  of  self-denial,  he 
set  celibacy  still  higher,  and  advised  his  wife,  in  case  he  should 
die  before  her,  to  remain  a  widow,  or,  at  least,  never  to  marry 
an  unbelieving  husband;  and  he  afterwards  put  second  mar- 
riage even  on  a  level  with  adultery.  He  entered  the  ministry 
of  the  Catholic  church,^  first  probably  in  Carthage,  perhaps 
in  Eome,  where  at  all  events  he  spent  some  time  f  but,  like 
Clement  of  Alexandria  and  Origen,  he  never  rose  above  the 
rank  of  presbyter. 

Some  years  after  (about  202),  he  joined  the  puritanic,  though 
orthodox,  sect  of  the  Montanists.  Jerome  attributes  this  chansre 
to  personal  motives,  charging  it  to  the  envy  and  insults  of  the 
Roman  clergy,  from  whom  he  himself  experienced  many  an 
indignity.^  But  Tertullian  was  inclined  to  extremes  from  the 
first,  especially  to  moral  austerity.  He  was  no  doubt  attracted 
by  the  radical  contempt  for  the  world,  the  strict  asceticism,  the 
severe  discipline,  the  martyr  enthusiasm,  and  the  chiliasm  of  the 
Montanists,  and  repelled  by  the  growing  conformity  to  the  world 
in  the  Roman  church.  This  church,  we  now  accurately  know 
from  the  Philosophoumena  of  Hippolytus,  just  at  that  period, 
under  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus,  openly  took  under  its  protec- 
tion a  very  lax  penitential  discipline,  and  at  the  same  time, 
though  only  temporarily,  favored  the  Patripassian  error,  which 
Praxeas,  an  opponent  of  the  Montanists,  brought  to  Rome.  Of 
this  man  Tertullian  therefore  says,  in  his  sarcastic  way :  He  has 
executed  in  Rome  two  works  of  the  devil ;  has  driven  out  pro- 
phecy (the  Montanistic)  and  brought  in  error  (the  Patripassian)  ; 

'  This  fact,  however,  rests  only  on  the  authority  of  Jerome,  and  does  not  appear 
from  Tertulhan's  own  writings. 

'  De  cultu  femin.  c.  7.    Comp.  Euseb.  II  2. 

3  De  vir.  illustr.  c.  53:  Hie  (Tert.)  cum  usque  ad  mediam  aetatem  presbyter  eccle- 
siae  permansisset,  invidia  et  contumeliis  clericorum  Romanae  ecclesiae  ad  Montani 
dogma  delapsus  in  multis  libria  novae  prophetiae  meminit. 

33 


51i  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

has  turned  off  the  Holy  Ghost  and  crucified  the  Father,'  Tertul- 
lian  now  fought  the  cathohcs,  or  the  psychicals,  as  he  frequently 
calls  them,  with  the  same  inexorable  sternness  with  which  he 
had  combated  the  heretics.  The  departures  of  the  Montanists, 
however,  related  more  to  points  of  morality  and  discipline  than 
of  doctrine ;  and  with  all  his  hostility  to  Eome,  Tertullian 
remained  a  zealous  advocate  of  the  catholic  faith,  and  wrote, 
even  from  his  schismatic  position,  several  of  his  most  effective 
works  against  the  heretics,  especially  the  Gnostics.  Indeed,  as 
a  divine,  he  stood  far  above  this  fanatical  sect,  and  gave  it  by 
his  writings  an  importance  and  an  influence  on  the  church  itself 
which  it  certainly  would  never  otherwise  have  attained. 

He  labored  in  Carthage  as  a  Montanist  presbyter  and  an 
author,  and  died,  as  Jerome  says,  in  decrepit  old  age,  according 
to  some  about  the  year  220,  according  to  others  not  till  240 ;  for 
the  exact  time,  as  well  as  the  manner  of  his  death,  are  unknown. 
His  followers  in  Africa  propagated  themselves,  under  the  name 
of  "  Tcrtullianists,"  down  to  the  time  of  Augustine  in  the  fifth 
century,  and  took  perhaps  a  middle  place  between  the  proper 
Montanists  and  the  catholic  church.  That  he  ever  returned 
into  the  bosom  of  Catholicism,  as  Hippolytus,  according  to  the 
later  story  of  Prudentius,  did,  is  an  entirely  groundless  opinion. 
Nor  has  the  Eoman  church  ever  received  him  into  the  number 
of  her  saints  and  fathers. 

Strange  that  this  most  powerful  defender  of  old  catholic  ortho- 
doxy and  the  teacher  of  the  high-churchly  C^'prian,  should  have 
been  a  schismatic  and  an  antagonist  of  Rome.  But  with  the 
Roman  spirit  he  united  in  his  constitution  the  acerbity  of  the 
Punic  character.  The  same  bold  independence  played  in  him, 
in  which  his  native  city  Carthage  once  resisted,  through  more 
than  a  hundred  years'  war,^  the  rising  power  of  the  seven-hilled 
city  on  the  Tiber.  But  in  this  he  truly  represents  the  African 
church,  in  which  a  similar  antagonism  continued  to  reveal 
itself,  not  only  among  the  Donatists,  but  even  among  the  leading 

'  Adv.  Prax.  c.  1.  *  B.C.  264-146. 


§   130.      TERTULLIA^   AND  THE  AFRICAN  SCHOOL.  515 

advocates  of  Catliolicism.  Cj^prian  died  at  variance  witli  Eome 
on  the  question  of  heretical  baptism ;  and  Augustine,  with  all 
his  great  services  to  the  catholic  system  of  faith,  became  at  the 
same  time,  through  his  anti-Pelagian  doctrine,  the  father  of 
evangelical  Protestantism  and  of  semi-Protestant  Jansenism. 

Tertullian  was  a  rare  genius,  perfectly  original  and  fresh, 
but  angular,  boisterous,  and  eccentric ;  full  of  glowing  fantasy, 
pointed  wit,  keen  discernment,  polemic  dexterity,  and  moral 
earnestness,  but  wanting  in  logical  clearness,  calm  consideration, 
and  symmetrical  development.  His  vehement  temper  was 
never  fully  subdued,  although  he  struggled  sincerely  against  it.^ 
Like  almost  all  great  men,  he  combined  strong  contrarieties  of 
character.  He  reminds  one,  in  many  respects,  of  Luther; 
though  the  reformer  had  nothing  of  the  ascetic  gloom  and  rigor 
of  the  African  father,  and  exhibits  instead,  with  all  his  gigantic 
energy,  a  kindly  serenity  and  childlike  simplicity  altogether 
foreign  to  the  latter.  Tertullian  dwells  enthusiastically  on  the 
divine  foolishness  of  the  gospel,  and  has  a  noble  contempt  for 
the  world,  for  its  science  and  its  art,  and  for  his  own ;  and  yet 
are  his  writings  a  mine  of  antiquarian  knowledge,  and  novel, 
striking,  and  fruitful  ideas.  He  calls  the  Grecian  philosophers 
the  patriarchs  of  all  heresies,  and  scornfully  asks :  "  What  has 
the  academy  to  do  with  the  church  ?  what  has  Christ  to  do  with 
Plato — Jerusalem  with  Athens?"  And  yet  reason  does  him 
invaluable  service  against  his  antagonists.  He  vindicates  the 
principle  of  church  authority  and  tradition  with  great  force  and 
ingenuity  against  all  heresy ;  yet,  when  a  Montanist,  he  claims 
for  himself  with  equal  energy  the  right  of  private  judgment  and 
of  individual  protest.  He  has  a  vivid  sense  of  the  corruption 
of  human  nature  and  of  the  absolute  need  of  moral  res:eneration : 
yet  he  declares  the  soul  to  be  born  Christian,  and  unable  to  find 
rest  except  in  faith.  "  The  testimonies  of  the  soul,"  says  he, 
"  are  as  true  as  they  are  simple ;  as  simple  as  they  are  popular ; 
as  popular  as  they  are  natural ;  as  natural  as  they  are  divine." 

'  Comp.  his  own  painful  confession  in  De  patient,  c.  1:  Miserri  mus  ego  semper 
aeger  caloribus  impatientiae. 


516  SECOND  PEEIOD.   A.D.   100-811. 

He  is  just  the  opposite  of  tlie  equally  genial,  less  vigorous,  but 
more  learned  and  comprehensive  Origen.  He  adopts  the  strictest 
supranatural  principles,  and  shrinks  not  from  the  "credo  quia 
absurdum  est."  At  the  same  time  he  is  a  most  decided  realist, 
and  attributes  body,  that  is,  as  it  were,  a  corporeal,  tangible  sub- 
stantiality, even  to  Grod  and  to  the  soul;  while  the  idealistic 
Alexandrian  cannot  speak  spiritually  enough  of  God,  and  can 
conceive  the  human  soul  without  and  before  the  existence  of 
body.  Tertullian's  theology  revolves  about  the  great  Pauline 
antithesis  of  sin  and  grace,  and  breaks  the  road  to  the  Latin 
anthropology  and  soteriology  afterwards  developed  by  his  like- 
minded,  but  clearer,  calmer,  and  more  considerate  countryman, 
Augustine.  For  his  opponents,  be  they  heathens,  Jews,  heretics, 
or  catholics,  he  has  as  little  indulgence  and  regard  as  Luther. 
With  the  adroitness  of  a  special  pleader  he  entangles  them  in 
self-contradictions,  pursues  them  into  every  nook  and  corner, 
overwlielms  them  with  arguments,  sophisms,  apophthegms,  and 
sarcasms,  drives  them  before  him  with  unmerciful  lashings,  and 
almost  always  makes  them  ridiculous  and  contemptible.  His 
polemics  everywhere  leave  marks  of  blood. 

His  style  is  exceedingly  characteristic,  and  corresjwnds  with 
his  thouglit.  It  is  extremely  condensed,  abrupt,  laconic,  senten- 
tious, nervous,  figurative,  full  of  hyperbole,  sudden  turns,  legal 
technicalities,  African  provincialisms,  or  rather*  antiquated 
Latinisms,  Latinized  Greek  words,  and  new  expressions ;  there- 
fore abounding  also  in  roughnesses,  angles,  and  obscurities; 
sometimes  like  a  grand  volcanic  eruption,  belching  precious 
stones  and  dross  in  strange  confusion ;  or  like  the  foaming  tor- 
rent tumbling  over  the  precipice  of  rocks  and  sweeping  all  before 
it.  His  mighty  spirit  wrestles  with  the  form,  and  breaks  its  way 
through  the  primeval  forest  of  nature's  thinldng.  He  had  to 
create  the  church  language  of  the  Latin  tongue. 

In  short,  we  see  in  this  remarkable  man,  both  intellectually  and 

•  Acooriling  to  Niebulir,  a  most  competent  judge  of  Latin  antiquities.  Comp.  also 
what  Ruhnkcn  sa3-s  of  Tertullian's  style  in  Praofiitio  ad  Scliellori  Lexic.  aud  Bishop 
Kaye,  1.  c.  p.  67  (in  OlIiKt,  III.  720). 


§  130.   TERTULLIAN"  AND  THE  AFRICAN  SCHOOL.    517 

morally,  tlie  fermenting  of  a  new  creation,  not  yet  quite  set  free 
from  the  bonds  of  chaotic  darkness,  and  brought  into  clear  and 
beautiful  order. 

The  writings  of  TertuUian  are  mostly  short;  but  they  are 
numerous  and  touch  almost  all  departments  of  religious  life. 
They  present  a  graphic  picture  of  the  church  of  his  day.  The 
earlier  ones,  wliich  were  written  in  Greek,  are  entirely  lost,  or 
extant  only  in  Latin  reproductions.  Most  of  his  works,  ac- 
cording to  internal  evidence,  fall  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  third 
century,  in  the  Montanistic  period  of  his  life ;'  and  among  these 
many  of  his  ablest  writings  against  the  heretics ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  gloomy  moral  austerity,  which  predisposed  him 
to  Montanism,  comes  out  quite  strongly  even  in  his  earliest  pro- 
ductions. 

His  works  may  be  grouped  in  three  classes :  apologetic ;  po- 
lemic or  anti-heretical ;  and  ethic  or  practical ;  to  which  may  be 
added  as  a  fourth  class  the  expressly  Montanistic  tracts  against 
the  catholics.     We  can  here  only  mention  the  most  important :  ^ 

1.  Pre-eminent  among  the  ajDologetic  works  against  heathens 
and  Jews  is  the  Apologeticus,  which  was  composed  probably  in 
the  reign  of  Septimius  Severus,  about  a.d.  200,  and  is  unques- 
tionably one  of  the  most  beautiful  monuments  of  the  heroic  age 
of  Christianity.     In  this  work  Tertullian  enthusiastically  and 

'  The  chronological  order  of  Tertullian's  works  can  be  only  proximately  fixed. 
Bishop  Kaye  divides  them  into  four  classes,  according  to  their  relation  to  Montanism 
(comp.  Oehler:  Tertull.  Opera,  III.,  p.  717): 

(a)  Those  which  probably  belong  to  the  author's  catholic  period ;  viz. :  De 
poeuitentia;  De  oratione  ;  De  baptisrao  ;  Ad  uxorem  ;  Ad  martyras,  or  martyres  ; 
De  patientia ;  Adv.  Judaeos ;  De  praescriptione  haereticorum. 

(b)  Those  which  were  certainly  not  composed  till  after  his  transition  to  Mon- 
tanism ;  viz. :  Adv.  Marcionem  (5  libri) ;  De  anima ;  De  carne  Christi ;  De  resurrec- 
tione  camis;  Adv.  Praxean ;  Scorpiace  (i.e.  antidote  against  the  poison  of  the 
Gnostic  heresy);  De  corona  mihtis;  De  virginibus  velandis;  De  exhortatione 
castitatis ;    De  fuga  in  persecutione ;    De  monogamia ;    De  jejuniis ;  De  pudicitia. 

(c)  Those  which  probalaly  belong  to  the  Montanistic  period  ;  viz. :  Adv.  Valen- 
tinianos;  Ad  Scapulam;  De  spectaculis;  De  idololatria;  De  cultu  feminarura 
(2  libri). 

{d)  Those  of  which  it  cannot  be  certainly  decided  whether  they  are  catholic  or 
Montanistic ;  viz. :  Apologeticus  (probably  of  the  catholic  period) ;  Ad  nationes ; 
De  restimonio  animae ;    De  pallio  (probably  Montanistic) ;    Adv.  Hermogenem. 


518  SECOND  PEEIOD.   A.D.    100-311. 

triumpliantly  repels  the  attacks  of  the  heathens  upon  the  new 
rehgion,  and  demands  for  it  legal  toleration  and  equal  rights 
with  the  other  sects  of  the  Eoman  empire ; — the  first  plea  for 
religious  liberty. 

2.  His  polemic  works  are  occupied  chiefly  with  the  refutation 
of  the  Gnostics,  particularly  of  Marcion  (a.d.  208)  and  the 
Yalentinians.  In  the  ingenious  and  truly  catholic  tract,  "On 
the  Prescription  of  Heretics,"^  he  cuts  off  all  errors  and  neologies 
at  the  outset  from  all  right  of  legal  contest  and  appeal  to  the 
holy  scriptures,  which  belong  only  to  the  cathohc  church  as  the 
legitimate  heir  and  guardian  of  Christianity.  Tliis  forensic 
argument,  however,  turns  also  against  Tertullian's  own  secession ; 
for  the  difference  between  heretics  and  schismatics  is  really  only 
relative,  at  least  in  Cyprian's  view.  Tertullian  afterwards 
asserted,  in  contradiction  with  this  book,  that  in  religious  mat- 
ters not  custom  nor  long  possession,  but  truth  alone,  was  to  be 
consulted.  The  works  "On  Baptism,"  "On  the  Soul,"  "On 
the  Flesh  of  Christ,"  "On  the  Eesurrection  of  the  Flesh," 
"Against  Hermogenes,"  "Against  Praxeas,"  are  concerned 
with  particular  errors,  and  are  important  to  the  doctrine  of  bap- 
tism, to  Christian  psychology,  to  eschatology  and  christology. 

8.  His  numerous  practical  or  ascetic  treatises  throw  much  light 
on  the  moral  life  of  the  early  church,  as  contrasted  with  the  im- 
morality of  the  heathen  world.  Among  these  belong  the  books 
"  On  Prayer,"  "  On  Penance,"  "  On  Patience," — a  virtue,  which 
he  extols  with  honest  confession  of  his  own  natural  impatience 
and  passionate  temper,  and  which  he  urges  upon  himself  as  well 
as  others, — the  consolation  of  the  confessors  in  prison  (Ad 
martyres),  and  the  admonition  against  visiting  theatres  (De  spec- 
taculis),  which  he  classes  with  the  pomp  of  the  devil,  and  against 
all  share,  direct  or  indirect,  in  the  worship  of  idols  (De  idolo- 
latria). 

4.  His  strictly  Montanistic  or  anti-catholic  writings,  in  which 
the  peculiarities  of  this  sect  are  not  only  incidentally  touched,  as 

'  Praescriptio,  in  legal  terminology,  means  an  exception  made  before  the  merits 
of  a  case  are  discussed,  showing  in  limine  that  the  plaintiff  ought  not  to  be  heard. 


§   131.      CYPRIAN.  519 

in  many  of  the  works  named  above,  but  vindicated  expressly 
and  at  large,  are  likewise  of  a  practical  nature,  and  contend,  in 
fanatical  rigor,  against  tbe  restoration  of  tlie  lapsed  (De  pudi- 
citia),  flight  in  persecutions,  second  marriage  (De  monogamia,  and 
De  exhortatione  castitatis),  display  of  dress  in  females  (De  cultu 
feminarum),  and  other  customs  of  the  psychicals,  as  he  com- 
monly calls  the  catholics  in  distinction  from  the  sectarian  pneu- 
matics. His  plea,  also,  for  excessive  fasting  (De  jejuniis),  and 
his  justification  of  a  Christian  soldier,  who  was  discharged  for 
refusing  to  crown  his  head  (De  corona  militis),  belong  here. 
Tertullian  considers  it  unbecoming  the  followers  of  Christ,  who, 
when  on  earth,  wore  a  crown  of  thorns  for  us,  to  adorn  their 
heads  with  laurel,  myrtle,  olive,  or  with  flowers  or  gems,  "We 
may  imagine  what  he  would  have  said  to  the  tiara  of  the 
pope  in  his  mediaeval  splendor. 

§  131.   Cyp'ian. 

I.  S.  Ctpriani   Opera  omnia,    recogn.   et  illustr.  per  Jo.  Fell   (bishop  of 

Oxford).  Oxon.  1682.  Amstel.  1700;  and  often.  Other  editions  by 
Erasmus,  Bas.  1520;  Manutius,  Rome,  1563;  Rigaltius,  Par.  1648; 
particularly  the  Benedictine  edition,  begun  by  Baluzius  and  completed 
by  Prud.  Maranus,  Par.  1726,  reprinted  at  Venice,  1758;  and  the  con- 
venient manual  ed.  of  Goldhorn,  Leipz.  1838  sq.  (in  Gersdorfs  BibL 
Patr.  Lat.  P.  II.  &  III.). 

II.  J.  Pearson  :  Annales  Cyprianici,  Oxon.  1682 ;  and  H.  Dodwell  :  Disser- 

tationes  Cyprianicae,  Oxon.  1684;  Amst.  1700  (both  in  the  edd.  of 
Fell).  F.  W.  Rettberg  :  Cyprianus  nach  seinem  Leben  u.  Wirken.  Gott. 
1831.  G.  A.  Poole  :  Life  and  Times  of  Cyprian.  Oxf.  1840.  J".  W.  Nevin: 
Cyprian;  four  arts,  in  the  "  Mercersburg  Review"  for  1852  (comp. 
Varien  :  Nevin  on  Cyprian ;  in  the  same,  1853,  p.  555  sqq.). 

Thascius  Caecilius  Cyprianus,  bishop  and  martyr,  and  the  im- 
personation of  the  cathohc  church  of  the  middle  of  the  third 
century,  sprang  from  a  wealthy  and  noble  heathen  family  of 
Carthage,  where  he  was  born  about  the  year  200.  His  deacon 
and  biographer,  Pontius,  considers  his  earlier  life  not  worthy  of 
notice  in  comparison  with  his  subsequent  greatness  in  the  church. 
Jerome  tells  us,  that  he  stood  in  high  repute  as  a  teacher  of 


620  SECOND   PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

rhetoric.^  lie  was,  at  all  events,  a  man  of  commanding  literary, 
rhetorical,  and  legal  culture,  and  of  eminent  administrative 
ability,  which  afterwards  proved  of  great  service  to  him  in  the 
episcopal  office.  He  lived  in  worldly  splendor  to  mature  age, 
nor  was  he  free  from  the  common  vices  of  heathenism,  as  we 
must  infer  from  his  own  confessions.  But  the  story,  that  he 
practised  arts  of  magic,  arises  perhaps  from  some  confusion,  and 
is  at  any  rate  unattested.  Yet,  after  he  became  a  Christian,  he 
believed,  like  Tertullian  and  others,  in  visions  and  dreams,  and 
had  some  only  a  short  time  before  his  martyrdom. 

A  worthy  presbyter,  Caecilius,  who  lived  in  Cyprian's  house, 
and  afterwards  at  his  death  committed  his  wife  and  children  to 
him,  first  made  him  acquainted  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  and  moved  him  to  read  the  Bible.  After  long 
resistance  Cyprian  forsook  the  world,  entered  the  class  of  cate- 
chumens, sold  his  estates  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor,^  took  a  vow 
of  chastity,  and  in  2-45  or  246  received  baptism,  adopting,  out  of 
gratitude  to  his  spiritual  father,  the  name  of  Caecilius. 

He  himself,  in  a  tract  soon  afterwards  written  to  a  friend,' 
gives  us  the  following  oratorical  description  of  his  conversion : 
"  While  I  languished  in  darkness  and  deep  night,  and  tossing 
and  doubtful  upon  the  sea  of  a  troubled  world,  I  floated  about  in 
wandering  ways,  ignorant  of  my  destination,  and  far  from  truth 
and  light,  I  thought  it,  according  to  my  then  habits,  altogether 
a  difficult  and  hard  thing,  which  the  indulgence  of  God  promised 
me  for  salvation,  that  a  man  could  be  born  anew,  and  that,  being 
quickened  to  new  life  by  the  bath  of  saving  water,  he  might  put 
off  the  past,  and,  while  preserving  the  identity  of  the  body,  might 
transform  the  man  in  mind  and  heart.  How,  said  I,  is  such  a 
change  possible  ?     How  can  one  at  once  divest  himself  of  all  that 

'  Catal.  c.  67  :   Cyprianus  Afcr  primnm  gloriose  rlietoricrin  docuit. 

2  Pontius,  in  his  Vita,  a  very  unsatisfactory  sketcli,  prcQxcd  to  tlie  editions  of  the 
works  of  Cyprian,  phicos  tliis  act  of  renunciation  (Matt.  xix.  21)  before  his  baptism, 
"hitcr  fidei  prima  riKlimonta."  Cyprian's  gardens,  however,  together  witli  a  villa, 
were  afterwards  restored  to  him,  "Dei  indulgentia,"  that  is,  very  probably,  through 
the  liberality  of  his  Christian  friends. 

3  De  gratia  Dei,  ad  Donatuin,  c.  3,  i. 


§  181.     CYPRIAN.  521 

was  either  innate  or  acquired  and  grown  upon  him  ?  .  .  .  Whence 
does  he  learn  frugality,  who  was  accustomed  to  sumptuous  feasts  ? 
And  how  shall  he  who  shone  in  costly  apparel,  in  gold  and  pur- 
ple, come  down  to  common  and  simple  dress  ?  He  who  has  lived 
in  honor  and  station,  cannot  bear  to  be  private  and  obscure.  .  .  . 
But  when,  by  the  aid  of  the  regenerating  water,^  the  stain  of  my 
former  life  was  washed  away,  a  serene  and  pure  light  poured 
from  above  into  my  purified  breast.  So  soon  as  I  drank  the 
spirit  from  above,  and  was  transformed  by  a  second  birth  into  a 
new  man,  then  the  wavering  mind  became  wonderfully  firm; 
what  had  been  closed  opened ;  the  dark  became  light ;  strength 
came  for  that  which  had  seemed  difficult ;  what  I  had  thought 
imjDOssible  became  practicable ;  it  could  be  seen,  that  had  been 
earthly,  which  was  formerly  born  of  the  flesh  and  lived  at  the 
service  of  sin,  and  that  that  was  of  God,  which  now  the  Holy 
Spirit  animated." 

Cyprian  now  devoted  himself  zealously,  in  ascetic  retirement, 
to  the  study  of  the  scriptures  and  the  church  teachers,  especially 
Tertullian,  whom  he  called  for  daily  with  the  words :  "  Give  me 
the  master  !"2  The  influence  of  Tertullian  on  his  theological 
formation  is  unmistakable,  and  appears  at  once,  for  example,  on 
comparing  the  tracts  of  the  two  on  prayer  and  on  patience,  or 
the  work  of  the  one  on  the  vanity  of  idols  with  the  apology  of 
the  other.  It  is  therefore  rather  strange  that  in  his  own  writings 
we  find  no  acknowledgment  of  his  indebtedness,  and,  as  far  as  I 
recollect,  no  express  allusion  whatever  to  Tertullian  and  the  Mon- 
tanists. 

Such  a  man  could  not  long  remain  concealed.  Only  two  years 
after  his  baptism,  spite  of  his  earnest  remonstrance,  Cyprian  was 
raised  to  the  bishopric  of  Carthage  by  the  acclamations  of  the 
people,  and  was  thus  at  the  same  time  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
whole  North  African  clergy.     This  election  of  a  neophyte  was 

■  "  Undae  genitalis  auxilio,"  which  refers  of  course  to  baptism. 

2  "Da  magistrura!"  So  Jerome  relates,  Cat.  c.  53,  on  the  testimony  of  an  old 
man,  who  had  heard  it  in  his  youth  from  the  "notarius  beati  Cyprianl"  As  to  the 
time,  Cyprian  might  have  personally  known  Tertullian,  who  lived  at  least  till  the 
year  220. 


522  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

contrary  to  the  letter  of  the  ecclesiastical  laws,^  and  led  after- 
wards to  the  schism  of  the  party  of  Novatus.  But  the  result 
proved,  that  here,  as  in  the  similar  elevation  of  Ambrose,  Augus- 
tin,  and  other  eminent  bishops  of  the  ancient  church,  the  voice  of 
the  people  was  the  voice  of  God. 

For  the  space  of  ten  years,  ending  with  his  triumphant  mar- 
tyrdom in  258,  Cyprian  administered  the  episcopal  office  in 
Carthage  with  exemplary  energy,  wisdom,  and  fidelity,  and  that 
in  a  most  stormy  time,  amidst  persecutions  from  without  and 
schismatic  agitations  within,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken 
in  their  proper  place.^ 

As  Origen  was  the  greatest  scholar,  Cyprian  was  the  greatest 
bishop,  of  the  third  century.  He  was  born  to  be  a  prince  in  the 
church,  and,  in  executive  talent,  he  even  surpassed  all  the  popes 
of  his  time;  and  he  bore  himself  towards  them,  also,  as  "frater" 
and  "  collcga,"  in  the  spirit  of  full  equality.  Augustine  calls 
him  by  eminence,  "the  catholic  bishop  and  catholic  martyr;" 
and  Vincentius  of  Lirinum,  "the  light  of  all  saints,  all  martyrs, 
and  all  bishops."  His  stamp  of  character  was  more  that  of  Peter 
than  either  of  Paul  or  John.  His  peculiar  importance  fiills  not 
so  much  in  the  field  of  theology,  where  he  lacks  originality  and 
depth,  as  in  church  organization  and  discipline.  "While  Tertul- 
lian  dealt  mainly  with  heretics,  Cyprian  directed  his  polemics 
against  schismatics,  among  whom  he  had  to  condemn,  though  he 
never  does  in  fact,  his  venerated  teacher,  who  died  a  Montanist. 
Yet  his  own  conduct  was  not  perfectly  consistent  with  his  posi- 
tion; for  in  the  controversy  on  heretical  baptism  he  himself 
exhibited  his  master's  spirit  of  opposition  to  Rome.  He  set  a 
limit  to  his  own  exclusive  catholic  j^rinciple  of  tradition  by  the 
truly  Protestant  maxims:  "Consuetudo  sine  veritate  vetustas 
erroris  est,"  and,  "  Non  est  de  consuetudine  pracscribcndum,  scd 
ratione  vinccndum."  In  him  the  idea  of  the  old  catholic  hierar- 
chy and  episcopal  autocracy,  both  in  its  affinity  and  in  its  conflict 
with  the  idea  of  the  papacy,  was  personally  embodied,  so  to  speak, 
and  became  flesh  and  blood.     The  unit}^  of  the  church,  as  the 

'  Comp.  1  Tim.  iii.  5.  "  Conip.  ^g  5G,  10-4,  aud  115. 


§  131.     CYPRIAN.  523 

veMcle  and  medium  of  all  salvation,  was  the  thought  of  his  life 
and  the  passion  of  his  heart.  But  he  contended  with  the  same 
zeal  for  an  independent  episcopate  as  for  a  Roman  primacy ;  and 
the  authority  of  his  name  has  been  therefore  as  often  employed 
against  the  papacy  as  in  its  favor.^  On  both  sides  he  was  the 
faithful  organ  of  the  churchly  spirit  of  the  age. 

It  were  great  injustice  to  attribute  his  high  churchly  principles 
to  pride  and  ambition,  though  temptations  to  this  spirit  unques- 
tionably beset  a  prominent  position  like  his.  Such  principles  are 
entirely  compatible  with  sincere  personal  humility  before  God. 
It  was  the  deep  conviction  of  the  divine  authority,  and  the  heavy 
responsibility  of  the  episcopate,  which  lay  at  the  bottom  both  of 
his  first  "  nolo  episcopari,"  and  of  his  subsequent  hierarchical  feel- 
ing. He  was  as  conscientious  in  discharging  the  duties,  as  he  was 
jealous  in  maintaining  the  rights,  of  his  office.  Notwithstanding 
his  high  conception  of  the  dignity  of  a  bishop,  he  took  counsel 
of  his  presbyters  in  everything,  and  respected  the  rights  of  his 
people.  He  knew  how  to  combine  strictness  and  moderation, 
dignity  and  gentleness,  and  to  inspire  love  and  confidence  as  well 
as  esteem  and  veneration.  He  took  upon  himself,  like  a  father,  the 
care  of  the  widows  and  orphans,  the  poor  and  sick.  During  the 
great  pestilence  of  252  he  showed  the  most  self-sacrificing  fidelity 
to  his  flock,  and  love  for  his  enemies.  He  forsook  his  congre- 
gation, indeed,  in  the  Decian  persecution,  but  only,  as  he  ex- 
pressly assured  them,  in  pursuance  of  a  divine  admonition,  and 
in  order  to  direct  them  during  his  fourteen  months  of  exile  by 
pastoral  epistles.  In  the  Yalerian  persecution  he  completely 
washed  away  the  stain  of  that  flight  with  the  blood  of  his  dig- 
nified and  cheerful  martyrdom.  He  exercised  rigid  discipline, 
though  at  a  later  period — not  in  perfect  consistency — he  mode- 
rated his  disciplinary  principles  in  prudent  accommodation  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  times.  With  Tertullian  he  prohibited  all 
display  of  female  dress,  which  only  deformed  the  work  of  the 
Creator;  and  he  warmly  opposed  all  participation  in  heathen 
amusements, — even  refusing  a  converted  play-actor  permission 

>  Comp.  §§  108-111,  and  §  104. 


524  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

to  give  instruction  in  declamation  and  pantomime.  He  lived  in 
a  simple,  ascetic  way,  under  a  sense  of  the  perisliableness  of  all 
earthly  things,  and  in  view  of  the  solemn  eternity,  in  which  alone 
also  the  questions  and  strifes  of  the  church  militant  would  be 
perfectly  settled.  "  Only  above,"  says  he  in  his  tract  De  morta- 
litate,  which  he  composed  during  the  pestilence,  "only  above 
are  true  peace,  sure  repose,  constant,  firm,  and  eternal  security ; 
there  is  our  dwelling,  there  our  home.  Who  would  not  fain 
hasten  to  reach  it?  There  a  great  multitude  of  beloved  awaits 
us ;  the  numerous  host  of  fathers,  brethren,  and  children.  There 
is  the  glorious  choir  of  apostles ;  there  the  number  of  exulting 
prophets;  there  the  countless  multitude  of  martyrs,  crowned 
with  victory  after  warfare  and  suffering ;  there  triumphing  vir- 
gins ;  there  the  merciful  enjoying  their  reward.  Thither  let  us 
hasten  with  longing  desire ;  let  us  wish  to  be  soon  with  them, 
soon  with  Christ.  After  the  earthly  comes  the  heavenly ;  after 
the  small  follows  the  great ;  after  perishableness,  eternity." 

As  an  author,  Cyprian  is  far  less  original,  fertile,  and  vigorous, 
than  Tertullian,  but  is  clearer,  more  moderate,  and  more  elegant 
and  rhetorical  in  his  style.  He  really  produced  only  on  the  doc- 
trines of  the  church,  the  priesthood,  and  sacrifice. 

1.  His  most  important  works  relate  to  practical  questions  on 
church  government  and  discipline.  Among  these  is  his  tract  on 
the  Unity  of  the  Church  (a.d.  251),  that  "  magna  charta"  of  the 
old  catholic  high-church  spirit,  the  commanding  importance  of 
which  we  have  already  observed.^  Then  eighty-one  Epistles,^ 
some  very  long,  to  various  bishops,  to  the  clergy  and  the 
churches  of  Africa  and  of  Rome,  to  the  confessors,  to  the  lapsed, 
&c. ;  comprising  also  some  letters  from  others  in  reply,  as  from 
Cornelius  of  Rome  and  Firmilian  of  Caesarea,  and  giving  us  a 
very  graphic  picture  of  his  pastoral  labors  aud  of  the  whole 
church  life  of  that  day.  To  thQ  same  class  belongs  also  his  trea- 
tise :  De  lapsis  (a.d.  250)  against  loose  penitential  discipline. 

'  Com.  §  111. 

2  The  ordei  of  them  varies  in  different  editions,  occasioning  frequent  confusion  in 

citation. 


§  182.      THE  OTHER  LATIN  DIVINES.  625 

2.  Besides  these  he  wrote  a  series  of  moral  works  on  the  grace 
of  God  (246) ;  on  the  Lord's  prayer  (252) ;  on  mortality  (252) ; 
against  worldly-mindedness  and  pride  of  dress  in  consecrated 
virgins  (De  habitu  virginum) ;  a  glowing  call  to  martyrdom  ;  an 
exhortation  to  liberality  (De  opere  et  eleemosynis,  between  254 
and  256),  with  a  touch  of  the  "  opus  operatum  "  doctrine  ;  and 
two  beautiful  tracts  written  during  his  controversy  with  pope 
Stephanus :  De  bono  patientiae,  and  De  zelo  et  livore  (about 
256),  in  which  he  exhorts  the  excited  minds  to  patience  and 
moderation. 

3.  Least  important  are  his  two  apologetic  works,  the  product 
of  his  Christian  pupilage.  One  is  directed  against  heathenism 
(De  idolorum  vanifate),  and  is  borrowed  in  great  part,  often 
verbally,  from  Tertullian  and  Minucius  Felix.  The  other, 
against  Judaism  (Testimonia  adversus  Judaeos),  also  contains  no 
new  thoughts,  but  furnishes  a  careful  collection  of  Scriptural 
proofs  of  the  Messiahship  and  divinity  of  Jesus. 


§  132.    The  other  Latin  Divines  of  the  Third  Century. 
Comp.  particularly  Mohler  :  Patrologie  I.  790-808  and  894-933. 

Marcus  Minucius  Felix,  a  prominent  jurist,  but  hardly  of 
the  celebrated  Eoman  family  of  the  Minucii,  and  probably  of 
North  African  descent,  a  younger  contemporary  of  Tertullian,^ 
embraced  Christianity  in  adult  life,  and  wrote  one  of  the  ablest 
and  most  attractive  apologies,  which  was,  in  part,  imitated  from 
TertuUian's  Apologeticus,  and  formed  the  model  of  Cyprian's 
work  against  idolatry.  It  is  entitled  :  Octavius,^  and  is  clothed 
in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between  two  friendly  lawyers,  Cae- 
cilius  Natalis  and  Januarius  Octavius,  the  former  of  whom 
defends  heathenism,  while  the  latter  advocates  Christianity,  and 

'  Jerome  (Catal.  c.  58)  places  him  between  Tertullian  and  Cyprian.  Later  wri- 
ters differ  as  to  the  chronology. 

*  It  well  deserves  to  be  read  through,  and  has  been  often  edited,  e.  g. ;  by  Bal- 
duinus,  1560;  Gronovius,  1709;  Davis,  Cambridge,  1712 ;  Lindner,  1773;  Liibkert, 
1836 ;  de  Muralt,  1836 ;  Oeliler  (in  Gersdorf  a  Bibhoth,  P.  Lat.)  Leipz.  1847. 


526  SECOND  PERIOD.    A.D.   100-311. 

at  last  gains  the  victory  and  brings  over  his  friend.  The  argu- 
ments on  both  sides  are  clearly  and  forcibly  stated  in  a  tone  of 
flowing  declamation  and  poignant  raillery,  as  we  may  expect 
from  an  intelligent  and  well  read  Eoman  rhetorician. 

The  Eoman  presbyter  Caius,  who  died  about  the  year  220,  is 
known  to  us  only  from  a  few  Greek  fragments  as  an  opponent  of 
Montanism  and  Chiliasm.  Perhaps  he  was  also  the  author  of  the 
corrupted  Latin  canon,  which  Muratori  has  discovered ;  but  he 
certainly  was  not  the  author  of  the  Philosophoumena.i' 

NoYATiAN,  the  schismatic  bishop  of  Eome  and  advocate  of  the 
strict  penitential  discipline,^  was  a  contemporary  of  Cyprian,  a 
man  of  learned  education,  and  well  versed  in  the  Greek  philoso- 
phy. He  is  the  only  important  writer  of  this  period  in  the 
Eoman  church,  except  the  somewhat  older  Hippolytus,  who 
wrote,  however,  as  Caius  also  did,  in  Greek.  We  have  from 
him  a  work  on  the  Trinity,^  composed  about  256,  in  which  he 
skilfully  refutes  the  error  of  the  Monarchians,  especially  of  Sabel- 
lius,  and  strives  to  reconcile  the  divine  threeness  with  unity.-*  In 
his  treatise  on  the  Jewish  laws  of  food,^  he  proves  by  allegorical 
interpretation,  that  those  laws  are  no  longer  binding  upon  Chris- 
tians, and  that  Christ  has  substituted  temperance  and  abstinence 
for  the  prohibition  of  unclean  animals,  with  the  exception  of 
meat  offered  to  idols,  which  is  forbidden  by  the  Apostolic  coun- 
cil. The  circular  letter  of  the  Eoman  clergy,  which  is  ascribed 
to  him,  contains  his  earlier  milder  penitential  principles. 

ViCTORiNUS,  probably  of  Greek  extraction,  bishop  of  Peta- 
vium  in  the  present  Styria,  who  died  a  martyr  in  303,  wrote 
several  commentaries  on  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments ; 
but  only  some  inconsiderable  fragments  of  them  have  come  down 
to  us.  Several  poems  also  are  attributed  to  him,  but  without 
sufficient  grounds. 

» Comp.  §  126. 

2Comp.  §  115.  The  Greek  writers  often  confound  him  with  the  contemporary 
Novatus  of  Carthage. 

'Liber  do  trinitate,  in  Gallandi,  torn,  ill.  This  book  has  been  attributed  also  to 
TertuHian  and  Cyprian. 

*  Conip.  §  81.  5  l>e  oibis  Judaicis  Epistola. 


§   132.      THE   OTHER   LATI?!"  DIVINES.  527 

CoMMODiAJsr,  a  layman,  wlio  probably  lived  in  Africa  in  tlie 
second  half  of  the  tliird  century,  was  converted  from  lieatlienism 
by  reading  tbe  Bible,  and  wrote,  in  uncouth  versification  and 
barbarian  hexameter,  "  Instructions  for  the  Christian  Life,"^  in 
which  he  seeks  to  convert  heathens  and  Jews,  and  gives  excel- 
lent exhortations  to  catechumens,  believers,  and  penitents.  It  is 
divided  into  eighty  strophes,  each  of  which  is  an  acrostic,  the 
initial  letters  of  the  lines  composing  the  title  or  subject  of  the 
section.  This  book  is  not  unimportant  to  the  history  of  practical 
Christianity,  and,  under  a  rude  dress  in  connexion  with  many 
superstitious  notions,  reveals  an  humble  and  fervent  Christian 
heart.  Like  Victorinus  and  most  of  the  ante-Nicene  fathers, 
except  the  Alexandrians,  Commodian  was  a  millenarian. 

Arnobius,  of  Sicca  in  Numidia,  a  teacher  of  rhetoric,  was 
for  a  long  time  a  decided  opponent  of  Christianity,  and  embraced 
it  in  consequence  of  a  vision  in  a  dream — such  visions  appear  to 
have  been  a  frequent  cause  of  conversions,  especially  in  Africa — 
and  wrote,  about  the  year  304,  an  apologetic  and  polemic  work,^ 
which  shows  more  address  in  the  refutation  of  heathenism,  than 
in  the  demonstration  of  Christianity ;  never  cites  the  holy  scrip- 
tures ;  hardly  brings  out  in  any  way  the  specifically  Christian 
element ;  and  with  many  clever  thoughts,  propounds  also  erratic 
views,  such  as  the  destructibility  of  the  soul  and  the  final  anni- 
hilation of  the  wicked,  without  method  and  in  swelling  rhetoric, 
but  with  a  certain  freshness  and  vigor.  His  own  conversion  he 
thus  describes :  ^  "  O  blindness !  But  a  short  time  ago  I  was 
worshipping  images  just  taken  from  the  forge,  gods  shaped  upon 
the  anvil  and  by  the  hammer.  .  .  .  When  I  saw  a  stone  made 
smooth  and  smeared  with  oil,  I  prayed  to  it  and  addressed  it,  as 
if  a  living  power  dwelt  in  it,  and  implored  blessings  from  the 
senseless  stock,  and  offered  grievous  insult  even  to  the  gods, 
whom  I  took  to  be  such,  in  that  I  considered  them  wood,  stone, 

1  Instructiones  adversus  gentium  Deos,  in  eighty  chapters ;  first  edited  by  Rigal- 
tius,  1650,  and  sometimes  also  as  an  appendix  to  the  works  of  Cyprian. 

2  Disputationum  adversus  gentes  libri  vii.  Published  by  Canter,  Antw,  1582;  by 
Salmasius,  1651;  Orelli,  1816;  Oehler  (in  the  Bibl.  P.  Lat.  vol.  xii.)  1846. 

=  L.  I.  c.  39  (p.  26,  ed.  Oehler). 


528  SECOND  PERIOD.   A.D.   100-311. 

and  bone,  or  fancied  that  they  dwelt  in  the  stuff  of  such  things. 
Now  that  I  have  been  led  by  so  great  a  teacher  into  the  way  of 
truth,  I  know  what  all  that  is,  I  think  worthily  of  the  Worthy, 
offer  no  insult  to  the  Godhead,  and  give  every  one  his  due." 
Upon  this  public  confession  of  faith  the  bishop  of  Sicca,  who  at 
first  did  not  trust  him,  administered  baptism  to  him.  "What 
afterwards  became  of  him,  we  know  not. 

From  his  rhetorical  school  proceeded  Lactantius  (fSSO), 
called  for  his  elegant  Latin,  the  Christian  Cicero.  But,  as  a 
contemporary  of  Constantine  the  Great,  he  belongs  rather,  like 
Eusebius,  to  the  following  period. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


The  writers  mentioned  in  the  Bibliographical  Apparatus  at  the  head  of  sections,  and  in  the 
notes,  are  not  included  in  this  Index,  but  may  be  easily  found  by  referring  to  the  subject.  The 
figures  indicate  the  page. 


Abraxas,  238. 

Achamoth,  229,  230. 

Acolyths,  412. 

Acts  of  the  Apostles,  16,  98  sq. 

Adresianes,  242. 

Aelia  Capitolina,  157. 

Aeschylus,  337. 

Africa,  Christianity  ia,  153. 

Agape,  126,  395. 

Agnes,  St.,  176. 

Alexander  the  Great,  46. 

Alexander  of  Abonoteichos,  191. 

Alexander  Severus,  170,  193,  371. 

Alexandrian  School,  495  sqq. 

Allegorical  interpretation,  194,  222  sq., 

227,  258. 
Alogiaus,  288. 
Alzog,  19. 

American  historians,  25. 
Ammonius  Sarras,  192. 
Ananias  and  Sappbira^  138. 
Ancient  Church,  11. 
Angels  of  the  Apocalypse,  135. 
Anicet  of  Rome,  375. 
Antioch,  congregation  of,  67,  69,  70,  76, 

464. 
Antitactes,  245. 
Antitrinitarians,  287  sqq. 
Antoninus  Pius,  165. 
Apelles,  24.5. 
Apocalypse,  107  sq. 
ApoUinaris  of  Hierapolis,  375,  485. 
ApoUiuaris  of  Laodicea,  193. 
ApolloniusofTyana,  191,  193,  195. 
Apollos,  108,  133. 
Apologists,  196  sqq.,  455. 
Apostles,  132  sq. 
Apostles'  Creed,  83,  121,  261  sq. 


Apostolic  Church,  29  sqq.,  138. 

Apostolic  Canons,  442  sq. 

Apostolic  Constitutions,  441  sq. 

ApostoUc  Fathers,  456  sqq. 

Aristides,  197,  485. 

Aristo,  485. 

Aristotle,  46,  222,  317,  325,  329,  337. 

Arnobius,  335,  527  sq. 

Arnold,  21. 

Arnold,  Thomas,  181. 

Art,  Christian,  377  sqq. 

Artemon  and  Artemonites,  289. 

Asceticism,  of  the  Gnostics,  231,  349;  of 

the  Catholic  Church,  345  sqq. 
Asia,  Christianity  in,  152. 
Athanasius,  287,  296. 
Athenagoras,  197,  201,  333,  486. 
Augustine,  193,  205,  209,  225,  284,  453, 

515. 
Aurelian,  174. 
Axionicos,  242. 


B. 


Baptism,  nature  and  subject  of,  122,  395 
sqq. ;  mode  of,  123 ;  of  infants,  124, 
401  sqq. ;  of  heretics,  404  sqq. 

Bar-Cochba,  157. 

Bardesanes,  233,  242. 

Barnabas,  70,  300  ;  epistle  of)  475. 

Baronius,  17,  and  often. 

BasUides,  227,  229,  237  sqq. 

Baur,  24,  and  passim 

Beausobre,  222. 

BeryUus,  292. 

Bible,  82. 

Bishops,  134,  414  sqq. 

Blandina,  167. 

Beroea,  71. 


530 


ALPHABETICAL   INDEX. 


Bossuet,  18. 

Branches  of  history,  4  sqq. 

Britain,  Cliristianity  in,  155. 

Buddhism,  222. 

Bunsen,  470. 

Burial  of  the  dead,  341  sqq. 


c 


Cabbala,  223,  224 

Caecihus,  520. 

Cainites,  237. 

Cajus,  300,  526. 

CaUgula,  305. 

CaUistus  or  Calixtus  I,  291,  431,  447. 

Canon,  255  sq. 

Caracalla,  170. 

Carpocratcs,  240. 

Carthage,  153,  109. 

Cassiodorus,  17. 

Catacombs,  343  sqq. 

Cataphrygians,  see  Montanists. 

Catechists,  Catechumens,  Catechumenate, 
397  sqq. 

CathoHc  Unity,  432  sqq. 

CathoHc  Epistles,  99  sqq. 

Catholic  Theology,  251  sqq. 

Celibacy,  353  sqq.,  358  sqq. 

Celsus,  187  sq. 

Cerdo,  243. 

Cerinthus,  236. 

Charisms,  114  sqq. 

Charity,  117,  336  sqq. 

Chiliasm  and  Chiliasts,  299  sqq. 

Christ,  Jesus,  his  position  in  history,  32  ; 
his  life  and  character,  53  sqq. 

Christian  name,  67. 

Christmas,  377. 

Christology,  266  sqq. 

Chrysostom,  318,  453,  454. 

Church,  doctrine  of  the,  138  sqq.,  432  sqq. 

Church  Buildings,  127,  370  sqq. 

Church  Discipline,  see  Discipline. 

Church  Father,  454  sqq. 

Church  History,  1  sqq. 

Cicero,  15,  311,  336,  337. 

Claudius,  162. 

Clement  of  Rome,  409,  416  sq.,  431,  441, 
455  ;  his  life  and  writings,  458  sqq. 

Clementine  Homilies,  216  sqq. 

Clementine  Recognitions,  220. 

Clement  of  Alexandria,  on  Greek  philo- 
sophy, 205;  on  Gnosticism,  232;  on 
inspiration,  257 ;  on  tradition,  261 ; 
on  the  logos,  209,  275 ;  on  the  Holy 
Ghost.  279;  on  the  Christian  family, 
330  ;  on  asceticism,  350 ;  on  voluntary 
poverty,  352  ;  on  celibacy,  355  sq. ; 
on  the  appearance  of  Christ,  378 ;  on 


the  eucharist,  389 ;  his  life  and  writ- 
ings, 498  sqq. 

Clergy  and  Laity,  131,  136,407  sqq.,  439. 

Colo.ssians,  105. 

Commodus,  168,  311. 

Commodian,  301,  527 

Communion,  the  holy,  125  sqq.,  386  sqq. 

Confessors,  178,  183. 

Confirmation,  400  sq. 

Constantino,  177,  451. 

Corinth,  71,  72. 

Corinthians,  103. 

Cornelius  of  Caesarea,  66. 

Cornelius  of  Rome,  413,  450,  451. 

Council  of  Jerusalem,  71,  136. 

Creation,  doctrine  of  the,  263  sqq. 

Creed,  the  Apostles',  261  sq. 

Cureton,  470. 

Cyprian,  his  martyrdom,   172,   173;  on 
martyrdom,    183;    on   tradition,   260 
on  Christian  life,  310;  on  mixed  mar 
riages,  332;  on  charity,  340;  on  cell 
bacy,  357  ;  on  the  eucharist,  388,  394 
on  penance,  396  sq. ;  on  baptism,  399 
404  sqq. ;    on   episcopacy,  423   sqq. , 
on  the  papacy,  429  sq. ;    on  catholic 
unity,   436 ;  on   discipline,  445   sqq., 
450 ;  his  life  and  writings,  519  sqq. 


D 


Damascus,  68,  69. 

Deacons,  134  sq. 

Deaconesses,  135. 

Decian  persecution,  171  sq. 

Demetrius,  503,  511. 

Demiurge,  229. 

Demons,  399  sq. 

Dioclesian  persecution,  147  sqq. 

Diodorus,  15. 

Diognetus,  epistle  to,  146,  480  sq. 

Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  274,  450,  509 

Dionysius  of  Corinth,  486. 

Dionysius  of  Rome,  273  sq.,  286  sq. 

Discipline,  136  sqq ,  443  sqq. 

Discipline    arcani,  384  sq. 

Docetism,  227,  232,  297. 

Dollinger,  19. 

Dodwell,  180. 

Domitian,  78,  163,  305. 

Domitian  persecution,  78,  163. 

Dorotheas,  510. 

Dositheus,  235. 

Duty  of  the  historian,  7  sqq. 


E 

Easter,  129,  373  sqq. 


ALPHABETICAL   INDEX. 


531 


Easter  controversies,  374  sqq. 
Ebionism,  88,  211  sqq. 
Egypt,  153. 
Elders,  see  Presbyters. 
Elkesaites,  215. 
Elxai,  215. 
Elymas,  71. 
Encratites,  245. 
English  historians,  25. 
Ephesus,  72. 
Ephesians,  105. 
Epiphanes,  240. 
Epiphanius,  213,  226,  232. 
Epiphany,  376  sq. 

Episcopacy,  origin  of,  414  sqq. ;  develop- 
ment of,  421  sqq. 
Essenes,  37,  215. 
Eucharist,  125  sqq.,  386  sqq. 
Eusebius,  16,  193,  and  often. 
Eutychius,  419. 
Exorcism,  399. 
Exorcists,  413. 


F 


FabianusofRome,  172. 

Fabianus  of  Antioch,  450. 

Family,  the  Christian,  111,  325  sqq. 

Fathers  of  the  church,  454  sqq. 

Fasting,  120,  324  sqq. 

Fehcissimus,  448  sq. 

FeUcitas,  170. 

Felix,  73. 

Festivals,  128  sq.,  372  sqq. 

Festrus,  73. 

FirmiUan,  405. 

Flavins,  20. 

Flavins  Clement,  216. 

Fleury,  18. 

Fortunatus,  448. 

Foulkes,  25. 

Fricke,  24. 

Friday,  celebration  ofj  373. 


G 

Galatians,  104. 

Galerius,  174,  176. 

GalUenus,  174. 

GaUus,  173. 

Gamaliel,  68. 

GauL  154. 

Gentile  Christianity,  74  sqq.,  84,  86. 

Germans,  155, 

Gervasius,  176. 

Gibbon,  180,  316,  327,  328,  329. 

Gieseler,  23,  and  often. 

Gladiatorial  shows,  311. 


Gnosticism  and  Gnostics,  88  sq,  211,  221 

sqq- 

God,  doctrine  of,  263  sqq. ;  Gnostic  con- 
ception of,  227. 
GorcUanus,  171. 
Gospels,  94  sqq. 
Grecian  Uterature,  45  sqq. 
Gregory  of  Nyssa,  359. 
Gregory  Thaumaturgos,  509  sq. 
Guericke,  24. 


H 


Hadrian,  165,  197. 

Hard  wick,  25. 

Harmonius,  242. 

Hase,  24. 

Heathenism,  42  sqq. 

Hebrews,  epistle  to  the,  106. 

Hegesippus,  486  sq. 

Heliogabalus,  170,  305. 

Henke,  22. 

Heracleon,  242. 

Heraclas,  509. 

Heresies,  87  sqq.,  210  sqq.,  251  sq. 

Heretical  baptism,  404  sqq. 

Hermas,  350,  357,  477  sqq. 

Hermias,  486. 

Herod  I.,  36. 

Herod  Agrippa,  72. 

Hesychius,  511. 

Hieracas  (Hierax),  510. 

Hierocles,  194  sq. 

Hippo,  council  o^  256. 

Hippolytus,  on  Gnosticism,  222  ;  on  Basi- 
lides,  237  sqq.;  on  the  Yalentiniaus, 
242 ;  on  freedom,  265 ;  on  Christ's 
person,  273,  275 ;  on  Zephyrinus,  289  ; 
on  Callistus  and  the  Patripassians,  291 
sqq.  ;  on  the  Easter  controversy,  375  ; 
on  the  papacy,  429,  431 ;  on  discipline, 
447 ;  his  life  and  writings,  490  sqq. 

Historiography,  13  sqq. 

Holy  Ghost,  doctrine  of  the,  277  sqq. 

Hottinger,  21. 


Ignatius  of  Antioch,  165,  331,  339,  455  ; 
on  the  divinity  of  Christ,  267  ;  on  his 
humanity,  274  ;  on  celibacy,  355 ;  on 
the  eucharist,  '386;  on  the  priest- 
hood, 409;  on  episcopacy,  416,  422 
sq.,  428 ;  on  catholic  unity,  434 ;  his 
character  and  epistles,  463  sqq. 

Immersion,  see  Baptism. 

Incarnation,  53,  89,  267  sqq. 

Infant  baptism,  see  Baptism. 


632 


ALPHABETICAL   INDEX. 


International  relations  as  affected  by 
Christianity,  113  sq. 

Interpretation,  of  tongues,  116;  of  tlie 
bible,  257  sq. 

Irenaeus,  on  the  number  of  martyrs,  1 80 ; 
on  miracles,  207 ;  on  Gnosticism,  253  ; 
on  the  scriptures,  255  sqq. ;  on  tradi- 
tion and  the  creed,  259  sq. ;  on  the 
doctrine  of  God,  263  ;  on  creation,  265; 
on  freedom,  265 ;  on  the  person  of 
Christ,  271  sqq.,  274,  276  sq. ;  on  the 
Holy  Ghost,  281 ;  on  the  Trinity,  285 
sq. ;  on  redemption,  297 ;  on  the 
millennium,  300 ;  on  the  Easter  contro- 
versy, 375;  on  the  eucharist,  387, 
391,  393  ;  on  infant  baptism,  402  ;  on 
the  general  priesthood,  410;  on  epis- 
copacy, 416,  418,  423;  on  the  Roman 
church,  428  sq. ;  on  the  catholic 
church,  435 ;  his  life  and  writings, 
487  sqq. 


Jacobi,  24. 

Jaldabaoth,  229. 

Jamblichus,  191,  192,  193. 

James  the  Just,  64  sq.,  76,  99,  41-5. 

Janitors,  413. 

Jerome,  343,  411,  416;  on  episcopacy, 
419. 

Jerusalem,  congregation  of,  61  sqq.; 
council  of,  71,  75,  136;  destruction  of, 
77,  200. 

Jesus  Christ,  see  Christ. 

Jewish  Christianity,  74  sqq.,  84  sqq.,  86. 

Jewish  persecution,  156  sqq.,  197  sqq. 

Jewish  proselytes,  50. 

Jews  and  Judaism,  35,  185,  198  sqq. 

John,  the  apostle,  his  life  and  labors,  78 
sqq. ;  his  theology,  87  ;  his  gospel,  96 
sqq. ;  his  epistles,  101 ;  the  revelation, 
107  sq. 

John  of  Damascus,  284,  354,  442. 

Josephus,  and  his  testimony  on  Christ, 
58  sq. 

Jude.  100. 

Judaizing  tendency,  88,  211  sqq. 

Julia  Mammaea,  170,  502. 

Julius  Africanus,  510. 

Justin  Martyr,  on  the  spread  of  Christian- 
ity, 152;  on  prophecies  and  types, 
199  sq. ;  on  idolatry,  203 ;  on  Greek 
philosophy,  204 ;  on  miracles,  207 ;  on 
the  Logos,  268  sq. ;  on  the  Holy 
Ghost,  278  sq.;  on  the  Trinity,  285; 
on  redemption,  297  ;  on  Chiliasm,  300 ; 
on  Christian  worship,  382  sq. ;  on  the 
eucharist,  387,   391   sq. ;  on  baptism. 


395  sq.,  397  sq. ;  his  life  and  writings, 
481  sqq. 
Justin  the  Gnostic,  242  sq. 

K 

Kaye,  207,  and  pasaiiu. 
Kurtz,  24. 


Lactantius,  301,  335,  372,  528. 

Lapsi,  172,  178,  444  sqq. 

Laurentius,  173. 

Law  of  the  Old  Testament,  38. 

Leouides,  169,  50L 

Libellatici,  178. 

Lindner,  24. 

Literature  of  the  apostles,  90  sqq. ;    of 

the  early  fathers,  452  sqq. 
Liturgy  of  Clement,  392. 
Logos,  268  sqq. 
Lucanus,  245. 
Lucian,  189  sq.,  340. 
Lucian  of  Antioch,  510. 
Luke,  gospel  of;  96 ;  acts  of,  98  sq. 
Lycurgus,  326. 
Lydia,  71. 
Lyons,  167. 


M 

Magdeburg  Centuries,  20. 
Mammaea,  Julia,  170,  502. 
Mani  or  Manichaeus,  246  sqq. 
Manichaean  and  Manichaeism,  228,  246 

sqq. 
Marcia,  168. 

Marciou,  227,  231,  243  sqq. 
Marcus  and  Marcosians,  232,  242. 
Marcus  Aurelius,  166,  337. 
Mark,  gospel  of,  96. 
Marriage,  325  sqq. 
Martyrs  and  Martyrdom,  177   sqq.,  182 

sqq. 
Marj-,  the  Virgin,  110  sq. 
Massuet,  223. 
Matter,  228  sq. 
Mauritius,  176. 
Maximilla,  362. 
Maxiniinus,  176,  177. 
Ma.ximus  Thrax,  170. 
Melciiizedekians,  289. 
Meletius.  451. 
Melito,  166,  197,  376,  486. 
Menandor,  235. 
Methodius,  356  sq.,  611. 


ALPHABETICAL   INDEX. 


533 


Metropolitans,  425. 

Middle  Ages,  12. 

Milleunium,  Millenariai]S,  299  sqq. 

Milman,  25. 

Miluer,  24. 

Miltiades,  197,  485. 

Ministerial  office,  130  sqq. 

Minucius  Felix,  197,  308,  -^09  sq.,  335, 

525. 
Miracles,  lit,  206  sqq. 
Missions,  61  sqq.,  148  sqq. 
Mohler,  224  sq.  and  passim. 
Monarchians,  287  sqq. 
Montanism   and  Montanists,   300,   325, 

332,  333,  359,  361  sqq. 
Mosheim,  22,  223,  and  parSsim. 


N 


Naassenes,  236. 
Natalis  Alexander,  18. 
Nazarenes,  212. 
Neander,  23  and  passim. 
Neo-Platonism,  190  sqq.,  224. 
Nerva,  163. 
Nero,  162,  305. 

Neronian  persecution,  64,  73,  162. 
New  Testament,  92  sqq. 
Nice,  councU  of,  360  sq.,  376,  438. 
Nicolaitans,  231,  232,  235  sq. 
Noetus,  291. 
Novatus,  448  sq. 

Novatianus  and  Novatianists,  450  sq., 
526. 


o 


Old  Testament,  35  sqq. 

Ophites,  229,  232,  233,  236  sq. 

Origen,  on  persecution,  180,  182  ;  on  the 
Christian  morality,  202  ;  on  heathen 
mythology,  203  sq. ;  on  Greek  philo- 
sophy, 204 ;  on  miracles,  206 ;  on  the 
spread  of  Christianity,  207;  on  Ebion- 
ism,  213 ;  on  inspiration  and  interpre- 
tation, 257  sq. ;  on  freedom,  265 ;  on 
Christ's  divinity,  270  sq. ;  on  Christ's 
humanity,  275  sq. ;  on  the  Holy 
Ghost,  280 ;  on  the  Trinity,  285 ;  on 
redemption,  298  ;  on  asceticism,  351 ; 
on  celibacy,  356;  on  the  eucharist, 
389 ;  on  infant  baptism,  403 ;  on  the 
catholic  church,  435 ;  his  life  and 
writings,  501  sqq. 

Orthodoxy  and  heresy,  251  sqq. 


Pamphilus,  510. 

Pantaenus,  496. 

Papacy,  426  sqq. 

Papias,  300,  479  sq. 

Parsism,  223,  228,  248. 

Patmos,  78. 

Patriarchs,  426. 

Patripassians,  257,  290  sqq. 

Patristic  literature,  452  sqq. 

Paul,  the  apostle,  his  hfe  and  labors,  67 
sqq.;  his  theology,  86;  his  epistles, 
101  sqq. 

Paul  of  Samosata,  289  sq. 

PauUanists,  290. 

Penance,  396  sq. 

Pentecost,  59  sqq.,  3f6. 

Peputians,  see  Montanists. 

Perates,  Peraticans,  237. 

Periods,  14. 

Perpetua,  169. 

Persecution,  156  sqq. 

Peter,  the  apostle,  his  life  and  labors,  60, 
63  sqq. ;  his  collision  with  Paul,  76 
sq. ;  his  theology,  89  ;  his  epistles,  100. 

Peter  of  Alexandria,  451. 

Pharisees,  37,  75. 

Philemon,  105. 

PhOippi,  70,  71. 

Philippians,   105. 

Philip  the  Arabian,  171. 

Philo,  51,  192,  223,  268. 

Philostratus,  193. 

PhUosophoumena,  see  Hippolytus. 

Pierius,  509. 

Plato  and  Platonism,  46,  191  sqq.,  203, 
204,  222,  325,  329. 

Pliny,  164,  186,  309,  372,  381  sq. 

Plotinus,  192  sqq. 

Plutarch,  46,  186,  192,  337,  338. 

Polycarp,  166  sqq.,  244,  285,  376,  416, 
455 ;  his  life  and  epistle,  47 1  sqq. 

Polycrates,  375. 

Ponticus,  167. 

Porphyry,  193  sq. 

Potamiaena,  169. 

Pothinus,  167. 

Praxeas,  273,  290  sq. 

Prayer,  120,  321  sqq. 

Preaching,  119. 

Precentors,  413. 

Presbyters,  134,  413  sqq. 

Priscilla,  362. 

Proclus,  192. 

Prodicians,  245. 

Prophecy,  of  the  bible,  39  .sq.,  199,  205  ; 
of  the  SibyUine  oracles,  205;  of  Mon- 
tanism, 36  sqq. 

Prophets,  133. 


53-i 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


Protasius,  176. 

Protestant  historiography,  19  sqq. 

Ptolemy,  242. 

Pythagoras,  193,  204. 


Q 

Quadragesimal  fasts,  324,  373  sq. 
Quadratus,  197,  485. 
Quatemporal  fasts,  326. 
Quartodecimani,  374  sq. 


R 


Rationalistic  historiography,  22. 

Readers,  412. 

Recognitions  of  Pseudo-Clement,  220. 

Redemption,  294  sqq. 

Relics,  183. 

Resurrection,  201,  462. 

Ritter,  19. 

Robertson,  25. 

Rohrbacher,  19. 

Roman  Empire,  47  sqq. 

Romans,  epLstle  to  the,  104  sq. 

Rome,  church  of;  104,  154,  447. 

Rothe,  416,  417,  469. 

Rufinus,  262. 


Sabbath,  128. 

Sabellius,  292  sqq. 

Sacraments.  122,  386  sqq. 

Sacrifice,  389  sqq. 

Saddncees,  37. 

Samaritans,  51,  66. 

Samosatenians,  290. 

Saturninus,  231,  240. 

Schisms,  447  sqq. 

Schroeckh,  22. 

Seraisch,  269. 

Seneca,  305,  306,  337,  338. 

Septimius  Severus,  169,  192. 

Sergius  Paulus,  7 1 . 

Sethites,  237. 

Sibylline  Oracles,  205,  456. 

Silas,  71. 

Simon  Magus,  51,  66,  89,  217,  234  sqq. 

Simonians,  235  sq. 

Slavery,  112  sq.,  315  sq. 

Socrates,  56,  325,  326. 

Socrates,  the  church  historian,  17. 

Song,  1 20  sq. 

Spain,  154  sq. 

Speaking  with  tongties,  116. 

Spiritual  gifts,  114  sqq. 


Stephen,  the  protomartyr,  62  sq. 

Stephen  of  Rome,  405  sq. 

Stoics,  337. 

Stolberg,  19. 

Sub-deacons,  412. 

Sunday,  128,  312. 

Support  of  the  ministry,  70,  410. 

Symbols,  Christian,  377  sqq. 

Symeon  of  Jerusalem,  05,  165. 


Tacitus,  64,  162,  181,  307. 

Talmud,   157. 

Taiian,  197,  201,  231,  245,  311;  his  life 
and  writings,  485  sq. 

Tertullian,  on  persecution,  149 ;  on 
religious  freedom,  159 ;  on  martyr- 
dom, 178,  179,  182,  183;  on  the  resur- 
rection, 201 ;  on  heathen  mythology, 
203 :  on  miracles,  207  ;  on  the  testi- 
mony of  the  soul,  208  sq. ;  on  gnos- 
ticism, 233 ;  on  the  scriptures,  255 
sqq. ;  on  tradition  and  the  creed,  259 
-sq. ;  on  the  existence  and  attributes 
of  God,  263  sq. ;  on  creation,  265;  on 
man,  266  sq. ;  on  Christ,  273,  275;  on 
the  Holy  Ghost,  281 ;  on  the  Trinitj-, 
286;  on  Christian  life,  308  sq.,  311, 
312,  313;  on  slavery,  318;  on  the 
Christian  family,  331 ;  against  mixed 
marriages,  332 ;  against  second  mar- 
riage, 333;  on  charity,  338,  341; 
on  celibacy,  359;  his  relation  to  Mon- 
tanism,  363  sqq. ;  on  development  of 
religion,  365 ;  on  discipline,  367,  443 
sq. ;  on  Sunday,  372;  on  the  appear- 
ance of  Chri.st,  and  on  art,  378;  on 
secret  discipline,  384;  on  the  eucha- 
rist,  388 ;  on  the  agape,  395 ;  on  bap- 
tism, 395  sq. ;  against  infant  baptism, 
408  ;  on  clergy  and  laity,  410  sq. ;  on 
episcopacy,  423 ;  on  the  Roman 
church,  429 ;  on  Catholic  unity,  435  : 
his  life,  character  and  writings,  511  sqq. 

Theatre,  312. 

Thcodotus,  288. 

Thcognostus,  509. 

TheophOus  of  Antioch,  201,  285,  333, 
486. 

Therapeutae,  51. 

Tlics.salonica.  71. 

Thundering  Legion,  168. 

Thurificati.  178. 

Tiberius,  162,  304. 

Tilleniout,  18. 

Timothy,  133;  epistles  to,  105. 

Titu-s  133;  epistle  to,  105. 

Toleration,  religious,  159,  176  sqq. 


ALPHABETICAL   INDEX. 


585 


Tongues,  gift  of,  60. 
Tradition,  226. 
Traditores,  175,  178. 
Trajan,  163  sq.,  465. 
Trinity,  281  sqq. 
Trypho,  198. 


u 

UUhorn,  469,  471. 
Unitarians,  287  sqq. 
Ursula,  170. 
Uses  of  church  history,  15. 


V 


Valentine  and    the   Valentinians,    228, 

229,  233,  240  sqq. 
Valerian,  173. 
Victor  of  Rome,  362,  375.     . 


Victorinus,  310,  526. 
Vienne,  167. 
VirgU,  205. 

w 

"Waddington,  24. 

"Wisdom,  gift  of,  115. 

Woman,  influence  of  Christianity  upon, 

110  sq.,  325  sqq. 
Worship,  118  sq.,  -381  sqq. 


X 


Xerophagiae,  325. 


Zephyrinus,  273,  290,  292,  431. 
Zoroastrian  dualism,  223. 


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1  vol.,  8vo.,  700  pages.     Price,  $3  00. 

"  Without  pledf,'ing  onrselves  for  the  Professor's  Theology,  as  it  may  be  developed  in  his 
future  volumes,  we  are  free  to  recommend  the  present  as  a  valuable  contribution  to  church 
history, which  no  clergyman  can  wisely  exclude  from  his  library," — Philad.  Presbyterian. 

"A  luminous  and  truly  philosophical  church  history.  The  author  shows  himself  a 
thorough  master  of  his  subject,  capable  alike  in  dealing  in  minute  details,  without  being 
tedious,  and  of  illustrating  great  principles  without  being  unduly  abstract.  He  never 
leaves  us  for  a  moment  in  doiibt  in  respect  to  his  meaning,  but  throws  every  statement  into 
broad  sunlight.  It  is  certainly  a  remarkable  work,  and  must  be  the  product  of  a  remark- 
able mind."^ — Puritan  Recorder. 

"  We  regard  it  as  a  most  valuable  contribution  to  our  ecclesiastical  literature.  It  is 
evidently  the  result  of  much  careful  study,  and  the  fruit  of  extensive  learning;  and  indi- 
cates a  mind  peculiarly  fitted  for  hi>torical  labours." — N.  Y.  Oliserver. 

"  A  work  of  great  value,  piety,  and  Christian  erudition." — Clerical  Jmirnal  (England). 

"  This  book  is  eminently  scho'.arlike  and  learned,  full  of  matter,  not  of  crude  materials, 
crammed  together  for  the  nonce  by  labour-saving  tricks,  but  of  various  and  well-digested 
knowledge,  the  result  of  systematic  training  and  long-continued  study.  Besides  evidence 
of  solid  learning  which  the  book  contains,  it  bears  impress  of  an  original  and  vigorous 
mind,  not  only  in  the  clear  and  lively  mode  of  representation,  but  also  in  the  large  and 
elevated  views  presented,  the  superiority  to  mere  empirical  minuteness,  and  the  con- 
stant evidence  atforded  that  the  author's  eye  commands,  and  is  accustomed  to  command, 
the  whole  field  at  a  glance  as  well  as  to  survey  more  closely  its  minuter  subdivisions.  In 
point  of  style,  and  indeed  of  literary  execution  generally,  there  is  no  Church  History  in 
German  known  to  us,  excepting  that  of  Hase,  that  deserves  to  be  compared  with  that  be- 
fore us.  The  religious  tone  and  spirit  of  the  work  are  such  as  to  leave  no  room  for  doubt 
on  the  reader's  mind,  respecting  the  sincere  belief  and  piety  of  the  author.  Its  practical 
tendency  is  uniformly  good." — Biblical  Repertory  and  Princeton  lievietc. 

'■  The  work  bears  upon  it  the  marks  of  true  learning,  and  independent,  vigorous  thought, 
from  the  first  page  to  the  last.  It  is  a  model  of  historical  order  and  clearness." — Biblio- 
theca  Sacra  and  Am.  Bible  Repository  for  Oct  1S52,  and  for  Jani/.,  1853. 

"  We  have  now  before  us  a  volume  of  a  truly  scientific  work  produced  on  our  own  soil, 
but  by  a  German  scholar.  It  has  this  great  advantage  over  the  richest  works  of  the  kind 
in  Europe,  that  the  author  combines  the  pains-takingaccuracy  and  scientific  insight  of  the 
German,  with  the  practical  religious  life  of  the  American  mind." — 3Iethodi.it  Quar.  Rev. 

*'  We  predict  for  this  work  great  success,  not  only  in  this  country,  which  may  in  some 
degree  claim  it,  but  in  Europe^not  excluding  the  Fatherland  of  its  author.  Dr.  Schatf  pre- 
sents to  us  discussions  on  the  numerous  and'  momentous  subjects,  of  which  the  outlines 
have  been  given,  marked  with  great  ability,  sound  judgment,  elevated  piety,  extensive 
research,  and  genuine  Catholicism.  AVe  think  that  our  common  Ch  istianity,  in  the  va- 
rious evangelical  forms  in  which  it  is  found,  will  bring  no  charge  of  heresy,  utter  no  com- 
plaint, and  manifest  no  disappointment.  It  strikes  us  that  it  would  be  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult to  write  a  book  of  this  kind,  we  mean  an  honest  book,  as  wc  are  satisfied  this  is,  that 
would  embrace  so  much  that  all  Christians  regard  as  true,  and  at  the  same  time  so  little 
from  which  there  might  be  dissent.  From  the  first  page  to  the  last  we  admire  the 
soundness,  we  may  say  orthodoxy,  of  the  writer.  The  literary  execution  of  this  work  is 
admirable." — Eranffelical  Review. 

"This  book  is  one  of  the  best  compendiums  extant,  of  church  history.  It  is  tho- 
roughly Christian,  its  arrangement  clear,  its  style  lively  and  attractive,  and  it  contains 
notices  of  the  most  recent  German  and  other  opinions  on  every  question  as  it  rises." — 
Edinburgh  Review,  for  .January^  1853. 

'•  This  is  the  first  learned  theological  work,  in  German,  composed  In  the  United  States, 
and  undoubtedly  the  best  published  on  that  subject  in  that  country.  I  bail  the  work  in 
both  respects  as  the  harbinger  of  a  great  and  glorious  future.  It  is  worthy  of  a  German 
scholar,  of  a  disciple  of  Neander  {to' whom  the  work  is  dedicated),  a  citizen  of  the  lini- 
ted  States,  and  of  a  believing  and  free  Christian  and  Protestant;  it  stands  on  German 
ground,  but  is  none  the  less  original  for  that."— /).•■.  Bunsen's  Ilyppolytus. 


schaff's  church  history. 


"  We  believe  it  to  be  the  most  thorough  and  complete  work  on  the  Church  of  the  first 
aentury,  which  has  ever  been  published  in  the  English  language.  We  do  not  except 
from  this  remark  Neander's  celebrated  '  History  of  the  Planting  and  Training  of  tlie 
Christian  Church  by  the  Apostles.'  *  *  *  *  The  work  i.!  marked  by  thorough  and 
exact  erudition  and  a  mastery  of  the  original,  and  other  sources  which  belong  to  tlie  illus- 
tration of  its  great  and  interesting  subject.  It  is  a  sufficiently  full  a'-d  symmetrical  pre- 
sentation of  this  subject,  a  many-sided  and  nearly  exhaustive  view  of  it,  in  the  different 
aspects  in  which  it  invites  the  attention  of  the  scholar  and  Christian.  Tlie  rich  and 
various  materials  of  the  history  are  arranged  with  much  skill  and  discrinimation,  under 
their  natural  heads,  and  presented  with  perfect  clearness.  We  can  hardly  name  a  point 
connected  with  the  relations  of  Christianity  to  Judaism  and  Heathenism,  with  the  propa- 
gation of  this  religion  in  the  face  of  persecutions  from  the  day  of  Penticost  onward  to 
the  end  of  the  century,  with  Christian  life,  and  with  the  government,  worship  theology 
and  heresies  of  the  Primitive  Church,  on  which  this  work  may  not  be  consulted,  always 
with  |)rofit,  and  for  tlie  most  part  with  high  satisfaction.  *  *  *  *  The  work  is  fur- 
ther pervaded  by  a  deep  and  earnest  religious  spirit.  We  see  evidences,  on  almost  every 
page,  that  tiie  mind  of  the  writer  has  communed  long  and  intimately  with  the  mind  of  the 
Saviour,  as  it  appears  in  his  wonderful  life  and  teaching,  and  in  the  spirit  which  he 
infused  into  the  apostles,  and  which  prompted  their  labors.  His  piety  is  consi)icuou3  in 
his  manner  of  ai)prehendin.!,-  the  religion  of  Christ,  as  a  central  life-creating  power 
which  takes  possession  ot  the  soul,  and  working  within  prngressivel.v  enlightens  its  facul- 
ties, and  sanctifies  its  activity.  *  *  *  *  ^Ve  commend  cordially  to  all  our  readers 
this  able  volume.  Christia'.)  ministers  cannot  afford  to  do  without  it." — ChristUm 
Review. 

From  Rev.  Henry  B.  Smith,  D.  Z>.,  Pro/t^snor  of  (Viwch  HUtonj,  Onion  Theological 
tSemiiia/-y,  Neio  York. 
"  Though  differing  from  the  learned  and  able  author  in  some  of  his  speculations,  and 
on  various  incidental  points,  yet,  as  a  whole,  I  esteem  tlie  work  as  a  most  valuable  addi- 
tion to  our  literature  of  church  history.  It  supplies  a  want  long  felt  by  our  students. 
No  work  in  the  English  language,  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  covering  the  same  period, 
can  be  compared  with  it  for  learning,  freshness,  and  comprehensiveness." 

From  Rev.  E.  P.  Humphrey,  D.  />.,  Professor  of  Church  History,  TJu>.ologicul  Semi- 
nary, Danville,  Kentucky. 
"I  have  examined  some  parts  of  it  with  great  care,  and  all  ol  it  enough  to  enable  me 
to  concur  most  cordially  in  the  estimate  of  it  expressed  by  the  notices  contained  in  the 
fly-leaf  of  the  book.  I  regard  it  as  incomparably  superior  to  any  work  on  the  subject 
which  has  fallen  under  my  notice.  I  have  advised  all  my  pupils  to  procure  it;  saying  to 
them  what  I  have  intimated  above  of  its  value,  and  further,  that  the  points  in  it  which 
do  not  agree  with  our  Presbyterian  views,  will,  I  hope,  only  serve  to  awaken  inquiry  and 
attention.    I  regard  it  as  invaluable  to  the  theological  stiulent." 

From  Rev.  IK.  G.  T.  Sliedd,  D.  D.,  Professor  at  Theological  Seminary,  Andover, 
Massachusetts. 
"  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  copy  of  a  work  written  with  such  freedom  and 
vigor,  and  published  in  such  a  handsome  style  as  Dr.  Schaff's  Apostolic  Church.  1  have 
been  reading  it  with  much  interest.  Though  not  composed  on  the  method  of  a  manual, 
and  teerefore  unsuited  for  a  text-book,  it  is  eminently  fitted  to  exert  a  genial  and  ferti- 
lizing influence  upon  the  mind  of  a  student  of  this  department;  and  it  will  give  me  great 
pleasure  to  recommend  it  to  students  as  a  valuable  accession  to  the  literature  of  Church 
history."' 

From  Prof.  C.  E.  Stance,  Theological  Seminary,  Andover,  dfass. 
"  1  have  received  the  volume  of  Prof.  SchafTs  History.  I  shall  certainly  do  what  in  mg 
lies  to  promote  its  circulation  ;  for  on  the  toi)ic  of  which  it  treats,  it  is  beyond  all  ques- 
tion the  most  valuable  work  in  the  English  language.  I  am  far  from  acquiescing  in  every 
view  and  statement  which  it  contains,  but  it  is  a  book  of  the  first  order  for  scholarship, 
good  toste,  and  christian  feeling." 

From  Rev.  Alvah  Hovey,  Profeasor  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  Theological  Institution, 

Newtowji. 
"  Without  being  able  to  adopt  all  the  views  expressed  in  it— especially  in  the  Introduc- 
tion—I  esteem  it  a  work  of  marked  ability  and  excellence,  destined  to  be  read  more  thni 
any  other  similar  history  in  our  language." 


"'Story  oMieTlinstian  church  :  From 

IHli"llll Hllllif  n?'?''"'  Seminary-Speer  L.brary 


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